Luton.Events

Morris-Cafiero can be described as part performer, part artist, part provocateur and part spectator. Her work explores themes of body image, online bullying and societal expectations about female appearance.

In this new photographic series,Weight Bearing, Morris-Cafiero has responded to the alarming reports of increased requests for help with disordered eating during the Coronavirus lockdown by drawing on her own experience of living with an undiagnosed eating disorder, many years ago. In these new, constructed self-portraits Morris-Cafiero uses imagery and symbols from everyday situations to communicate the invisible feelings that she associates with trying to control her body’s size and conform to the wider society and the media’s expectations of what a woman should look like.


Haley Morris-Cafiero said: “Imagine that you are trying to push an oval-shaped ball into a hole. When you push the ball towards the hole, it moves in a different direction. After multiple tries, the ball is finally over the hole and you discover that the hole is too small. This is how I would describe my attempt to control my body and to meet other people’s expectations of how I should look. I hope the images help those who are struggling with an eating disorder to find their voice and seek help”.


Departure Lounge Director Matthew Shaul said: “We are delighted to have commissioned Haley to make these powerful new images and to finally be able to show a full exhibition of her work following last year’s Covid-enforced window displayInvisible in Plain Sight. These new self-portraits go to the heart of what Departure Lounge is about as a gallery, they ask searching questions about what contemporary photographic portraiture is and what we should expect of it. Haley’s often unsettling images distil identity and the extremes of emotion that characterise our collective struggle to deal with modern experience’.


Haley Morris-Cafiero lives and works in the UK and is currently Senior Lecturer in Photography at the University of Northampton. Her photographs have been widely exhibited in solo and group exhibitions internationally and have featured in numerous newspapers and magazines. Previous projects include The Bully Pulpit (2019), in which she took on the appearance of those who vilified her on social media, and Wait Watchers (2015) in which she captured strangers’ responses to her physical appearance.


Weight Bearing is generously funded by Arts Council England. It is organised by Departure Lounge and is delivered in partnership with The Culture Trust Luton.

Dates

  • Saturday, September 18, 2021
  • Thursday, September 23, 2021 at 1:00pm - 6:00pm
  • Friday, September 24, 2021 at 1:00pm - 6:00pm
  • Saturday, September 25, 2021 at 1:00pm - 6:00pm
  • Thursday, September 30, 2021 at 1:00pm - 6:00pm
  • Friday, October 1, 2021 at 1:00pm - 6:00pm
  • Saturday, October 2, 2021 at 1:00pm - 6:00pm
  • Thursday, October 7, 2021 at 1:00pm - 6:00pm
  • Friday, October 8, 2021 at 1:00pm - 6:00pm
  • Saturday, October 9, 2021 at 1:00pm - 6:00pm
  • Thursday, October 14, 2021 at 1:00pm - 6:00pm
  • Friday, October 15, 2021 at 1:00pm - 6:00pm
  • Saturday, October 16, 2021 at 1:00pm - 6:00pm
  • Thursday, October 21, 2021 at 1:00pm - 6:00pm
  • Friday, October 22, 2021 at 1:00pm - 6:00pm
  • Saturday, October 23, 2021 at 1:00pm - 6:00pm
  • Thursday, October 28, 2021 at 1:00pm - 6:00pm
  • Friday, October 29, 2021 at 1:00pm - 6:00pm
  • Saturday, October 30, 2021 at 1:00pm - 6:00pm

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