These photographs (excluding the first) comes from Ivonne Thein’s series entitled “Thirty-Two Kilos,” which deals with the pathological striving of young men and women to be extremely thin. The background to this work is a phenomenon that emerged in the US already in the 1990s with the Internet movement “Pro Ana,” which elevates anorexia nervosa to the status of a new, positive lifestyle for young women. The Internet has become the virtual home to diverse communities that do not define themselves as self-help groups for those suffering from eating disorders. Quite the opposite, they support the desire to lose weight, circulating encouraging slogans to help girls achieve the perfect bodies of their dreams. On these sites, this extreme body ideal is illustrated with abundant visual material. Role models are celebrated – for example, female celebrities with anorexia, who seem to embody the connection between extreme physical self-control and a happier and more successful life. The health risks of this lifestyle, however, disappear from view. At the same time, one also regularly finds photographs on these sites that the trained eye can recognize as having been manipulated.
Ivonne Thein born in 1979 in Meiningen, Germany.
Ivonne Thein born in 1979 in Meiningen, Germany.
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