Eating Disorders, Anorexia, Bulimia

Artists’ capabilities to reach people are never doubted, whether in the audience’s home, galleries, or openly in public. In fact, from ads to displayed artworks, it is possible that art is one of the most effective forms of reaching the public. It is not always necessary to draw someone in for minutes at a time to look at a work of art – a glance several times a day (such as that of a billboard) is enough to implant a heavy subliminal message in the minds of the public. Knowing this to be true, artists have expanded their horizons and have resorted to advertising, informative photography, and public exhibitions to have an impact. Some of these talented artists have devoted their talents to portraying the horrors of eating disorders. Eating disorders strike a wide range of victims (about 8 million people in America alone). With effects ranging from crash dieting to hospitalization, eating disorders strike slowly and unexpectedly, usually starting with harmless intentions to lose a pound here or there. However, their detrimental effects on the psyche of the victims are hard to reverse. Therefore, its the education from different providers, including artists, that proves to be the escape route for victims or the warning signal for others. Education on eating disorders is crucial to keep them from acquiring more victims, and some artists have taken this need as their calling. Therefore, national organizations may begin starting to count on these artists to educate the public. Eating disorder education will not only help keep potential victims safe from the wrath of eating disorders, but will also help those who have already given in to the attacker. Exposure is the most successful route of attacking an enemy. By exposing the horrors of eating disorders, artists are able to confront the problem from a few aspects – by showing the effects of eating disorders as well as sending out a warning message for the public. Artists are trying hard to keep up this cause, by continually looking for new ways to exhibit the harm of eating disorders. All in all, it is in the hands of the brave artists to expose eating disorders in a medium that targets a wide audience. In fact, it is these artists which can achieve the goal in both subtle and bold ways, making their medium perhaps the most effective to date. Not only are these artists flexible in their tactics of exposing eating disorders, but they are also able to maneuver around various societal obstacles. These obstacles include the lack of educational activity (in certain areas of the world), lack of communication between societies (to learn from and teach each other about what has and has not worked in the past), and the lack of teamwork (between different forces) to fight eating disorders. The work of these artists should be applauded, for a stand against eating disorders is more than admirable. In fact, it is possible that it is the most effective method found to date to battle the epidemic of eating disorders.