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admin — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 17:54:20 +0000

Hey world, I’m awesome.

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Erin Zerbe’s MFA Thesis Talk | MICA Thesis Exhibition 2011

admin — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 01:29:46 +0000

This is a video recording of my thesis talk for my MFA Exhibition of CONTROL. To see details of the work, video clips, and images, please check out the following links:

Still Images of Exhibition:

flickr.com/photos/zerbetron/sets/72157626243682729/

Actual Work:

flickr.com/photos/zerbetron/sets/72157625319828654/

vimeo.com/10992985

vimeo.com/19547499

CONTROL: Excerpt

admin — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 01:39:30 +0000

This is a compressed (sorry about the quality) excerpt from my thesis work, CONTROL. The piece is a process oriented performance documentation, where I put on layer after layer of control garments and corsets until I am unable to breathe. Then I frantically take them all off. The piece deals with the ideas of fatness, feminism, and body policing as they relate the the marketing of “control” over our bodies.

2 hours 22 Mins

admin — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 19:50:46 +0000

This is a time lapse video of 2 hours and 22 minutes that it took for the marks to fade off my body after wearing the Ardyss Body Magic Griddle. I wore the garment for the recommended time of 6 hours, then removed it, and filmed how long it took the impressions to fade from my skin. This is a part of my thesis work I’m pursuing called CONTROL which deals with fatness and cultural perceptions of the fat body.

CONTROL: Photo Series

admin — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 00:11:53 +0000

Please visit the full set on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zerbetron/sets/72157625319828654/ This series of images depicts the affects of various contol garments on the body. Contol garments are marketed to overweight men and women to “reshape” their bodies and aid them in weight loss. By highlighting the affects of these harsh garments on the flesh, I’m hoping to shed light on the real result of body policing and control sold to us as a form of health and beauty.

These marks were left by the Ardyss Body Magic. This garment is marketed men and women to reshape and reform their bodies. Quoted directly from their website:

“With Ardyss Girdles, you can look like you’ve lost 2-3 dress sizes in just a matter of minutes – 10 minutes or less, to be exact. Dubbed by majority of its users as “Body Magic”, Ardyss Girdles are the safe, painless, effortless way to look slimmer right away, and to look good and feel good about yourself in an instant.”

I feel these images adaquately demonstrate just how “safe” and “painless” that process really is.

Adi-BROS

admin — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 00:05:04 +0000

Please visit the full set on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zerbetron/sets/72157624887470726/ I’ve expanded into shooting men as well as women. I feel like pressures to conform to a slender archetype reach beyond women, and for the first time in history, men are dealing with the same body issues and weight stigmas as women. This set of images is designed to show the fat male body in abstract closeness. Emphasizing hair, stretch marks, lines, weight and shadow. Beauty standards affect both men and women, so size positive images should exist for both men and women. Adi-BROS is a working title for this collection, which is a play on the word “adipose” which means the actual fat cells in the body. I wanted to really explore the male figure in a way that invites the viewer to gaze voyeuristically up what by most standards would be abject.

Plush

admin — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 23:58:08 +0000

Please click the link to see the full series on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zerbetron/sets/72157623218966231/ These body landscapes in the vein of Westin, Brandt, and Penn show the convergence of what is considered socially grotesque with formal beauty. Light, shadow, and form highlight the subtle and unique beauties of the fat body while challenging our cultural ideas of beauty. Below are a few sample images

It Could Be Worse, You Could Be Fat

admin — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 22:57:33 +0000

Fat bodies are considered abject, grotesque and inhuman in our society. Often times fat people are dehumanized, marginalized and demoralized in public by fetishizing their fat body parts on television, news stations, and in popular media. This short video piece deals with the hurtful things said to fat women about their bodies.

The hands, shadows, and light move across and sculpt the rolls of flesh in response to negative comments and attacks hurled at fat women in response to their physical appearance. Being fat in a society obsessed with body image is not only frowned upon, it’s grounds for abusive treatment.

Every word in this video was actually spoken to me, or another woman I know about her body. A stark contrast to my “Plush” series (flickr.com/photos/zerbetron/sets/72157623218966231/), this video shows the hard, unyielding reality of how the fat body is treated in American Culture.

Beauty Ritual 2010: Living For The Neck Up

admin — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 23:21:23 +0000

This project, which ran from January 1st, 2010, until December 31st 2010 was a process piece in which I logged the exact time it took me to apply my makeup and style my hair each day. “Living for the Neck Up” is a derogatory concept aimed at fat woman, who often times find they cannot deal with the pressures of hegemonic society to confirm to the beauty ideals placed upon their bodies, so they attempt to go above and beyond the beauty ideals for their face and hair. Similar to mask wearing, many overweight women become very adapt at styling hair, applying makeup, and “living for the neck up”. As a fat woman interested in this process, I committed myself to log the time I spent on this process, this beauty ritual. I soon realized that this was a ritual most all women, regardless of size, could relate to. The total time spent over the course of the year totaled to:

3 weeks, 6 days, 15 hours and 47 minutes. Nearly an entire month of my year was spent on this process. Please check back for a time lapse animation of all the still images.

To see the full set on flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/zerbetron/sets/72157623220441739/

Constructed Realities

admin — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 00:25:47 +0000

Constructed Realities is a digital imaging assignment for freshmen in a class called: Electronic Media and Culture. The final images had to be composited in Photoshop and depict some sort of narrative scene or quality. Completed in 2010. Please click the thumbnails below for full size images.