Trigger Warning: This autoethnographic object illustration explores body dissatisfaction and bulimia within the childhood home.
Audience discretion is advised.
Autoethnography is a qualitative research method that creatively and reflexively examines personal experience within a cultural context to connect with audiences and contribute to research.
These object illustrations are part of my practice-based PhD research at the Belfast School of Art. They embody my subjective experience, shaped by my sexed, raced, classed, gendered, and disabled identity within sociostructural systems of power. Whiteness informs Western (hegemonic) body ideals, as well as how we research and understand body image. The body image-related findings of this research are not generalisable, though the object- and practice-based findings are.
The liminal object illustrations, which mimic tableware, enabled a workshop design in which the table functioned on multiple levels: connecting multiple theoretical threads and presenting participants with un/familiar objects within an un/familiar setting, to destabilise meanings and certainties. Over food, groups of women in Northern Ireland engaged in critical discussion and making objects at the table. The women’s communicative objects question and push back on body image pressures and ideals, continuing the conversation through a collaborative exhibition.
If you are affected by the issues raised by this work, please reach out to:
Eating Disorders Association Northern Ireland
All photographs and artwork on this website (and the associated thesis) are taken by and are the copyright of the author unless stated otherwise. The copyright of the photographs of the original object illustrations and paper illustrations published on this website (and the associated thesis) remains with the author, and permission must be obtained to reproduce any image for non-commercial or commercial use. The illustrator-author retains copyright of participant objects, but does not claim authorship. Reproducing images of participant objects is not permitted.
half full
Beverley Irving-Edwards, half full, 2022, porcelain, underglaze, glaze, ceramic decals, Liverpool. © Beverley Irving-Edwards.
The text reads: Most Western women will experience body dissatisfaction across all ages, across their whole lifetime, starting from 5 years old.
worth/less
Beverley Irving-Edwards, worth/less, 2022, porcelain, underglaze, glaze and ceramic decals, Liverpool, 15 cm x 11.5 cm x 6.5 cm. © Beverley Irving-Edwards.
The text reads: How we talk about, think about, see, value women’s bodies chips away at girls’ self-esteem. When will it stop.
For this piece, I revisit an illustration I made for The Sexist’s Alphabet project in 2015.
the silent scream
Beverley Irving-Edwards, the silent scream, 2022, porcelain, glaze and ceramic decals, 5.5 cm x 5.5 cm x 4.5 cm (without spoon), Liverpool. © Beverley Irving-Edwards.
The text reads: Quiet. Private, not public. Why don’t we talk about the menopause? profound silence.
the silent scream (2022)
Quiet.
private, not public.
why don’t we talk about the menopause?
profound silence.
(Handbuilt sugar bowl: porcelain, underglaze, glaze, ceramic decal).
This piece is response to a conversation from the first Craftivist Clay engagement and a menopause magnet brought to the conversation table by a participant. This inspired a re-appropriation of a collage from my BA (Hons) Illustration final project, The Sexist’s Alphabet: Q is for Quiet; initially questioning the quiet around menstruation.
dopamine-reward-dysregulation-shame
Beverley Irving-Edwards, dopamine-reward-dysregulation-shame, 2022, porcelain, underglaze and glaze, various sizes, Liverpool. © Beverley Irving-Edwards.
The text reads: Girls with ADHD are 3.8x more likely to develop eating disorders than their peers & most people affected by eating disorders are not underweight. Dopamine. Reward. Dysregulation. Shame.
dopamine (Part of ADHD girls) (2022)
Dopamine-reward-dysregulation-shame
Girls with ADHD are 3.8x more likely to develop eating disorders than their peers
& most people affected by eating disorders are not underweight
Environment and Neurobiology impact body image. Some ADHDers turn to food to increase dopamine, the feel good chemical. We can struggle to make decisions and recognise internal cues such as hunger and fullness. Food and weight can also feel like the only thing we can control when the rest of our life is in chaos. Body image and the ‘ideal’ can also feel like it’s another thing we are failing at, leading to feelings of shame.
(Handbuilt fork: porcelain, underglaze, glaze)
shame (part of ADHD girls) (2022)
Dopamine-reward-dysregulation-shame
Girls with ADHD are 3.8x more likely to develop eating disorders than their peers
& most people affected by eating disorders are not underweight
Environment and Neurobiology impact body image. Some ADHDers turn to food to increase dopamine, the feel good chemical. We can struggle to make decisions and recognise internal cues such as hunger and fullness. Food and weight can also feel like the only thing we can control when the rest of our life is in chaos. Body image and the ‘ideal’ can also feel like it’s another thing we are failing at, leading to feelings of shame.
un/real
Beverley Irving-Edwards, un/real, 2022, porcelain, underglaze, glaze and ceramic decals, 15 cms x 11 cms x 7 cms, Liverpool. © Beverley Irving-Edwards.
The text reads: it’s not real… it’s just a white man’s construct and still, it consumes us
it's just a white man's construct
it’s not real…
it’s just a white man’s construct
and still,
it consumes us
(Handbuilt cup: porcelain, underglaze, glaze, ceramic decals).
it's just a white man's construct (2022)
it’s not real…
it’s just a white man’s construct
and still,
it consumes us
(Handbuilt cup: porcelain, underglaze, glaze, ceramic decals).
risky object
Beverley Irving-Edwards, risky object, 2022, porcelain, glaze and ceramic decal, 18.5 cms dia, Liverpool. © Beverley Irving-Edwards.
The text reads: Warning: risk of persistent sitting pretty.
stew
Beverley Irving-Edwards. stew, 2022, porcelain, glaze and ceramic decals, 14 cms x 14 cms x 5 cms, Liverpool. © Beverley Irving-Edwards.
The text reads: “Am I too old to wear this?” “And too old for long hair.”
wasted ageing (2022)
Preserving the subtle creases on the exterior of the bowl that occurred during the handbuilding process.
Handbuilt bowl: porcelain, glaze, ceramic decal.
in/out
Beverley Irving-Edwards, in/out, 2022, porcelain, underglaze and glaze, 15 cms x 11.5 cms x 7 cms, Liverpool. © Beverley Irving-Edwards.
The text reads: why can white women take from black culture to fit fleeting beauty trends to then try to bring back heroin chic
untitled-entitled-unacknowledged (2022)
why can white
women take
from black
culture
to fit
fleeting
beauty trends
…
to then try to bring back heroin chic…
*
I am a white woman and I don’t feel it is ethically responsible to represent women of colour in my work. If black or brown women want to directly inform what I can make based on their experience then I will, but I am not going to appropriate anyone’s experience or reach out in a tokenistic way. What I can and will do is look at culture, trends, and representations, and asky why things are the way they are, who benefits, and who it harms. It’s not accusing individuals, but it’s questioning the system that harms us all, but some more than most (although there are some very problematic women in privileged and influential positions). This object illustration references literature I am citing in my PhD research, but also responds to a conversation on this subject that came from the participants of the Craftivist Clay engagement. The conversation drew attention to how history can repeat itself through women’s bodies representing status.
trends
Beverley Irving-Edwards, trends, 2022, porcelain, glaze and decals, 13.5 cms dia, Liverpool. © Beverley Irving-Edwards
The text reads: Trends. To be continued?
disciplined
Beverley Irving-Edwards, disciplined, 2022, porcelain, glaze and ceramic decals, 19 cms dia, Liverpool. © Beverley Irving-Edwards.
The text reads: shop it. share it. so pretty.
doctrine
Beverley Irving-Edwards, doctrine, 2022, porcelain, glaze and ceramic decals, 19 cms dia, Liverpool. © Beverley Irving-Edwards.
The text reads: read it. hear it. watch it. see it. watch it.
who's playing
Beverley Irving-Edwards, who’s playing, 2022, porcelain, underglaze, glaze and ceramic decals, 15 cm x 6 cm x 11 cm, Liverpool. © Beverley Irving-Edwards.
The text reads: whose tune are we dancing to. Can we not choose what we dance to and what we don’t listen to anymore.
