Distorted Self

I have suffered for years with eating disorders of one form or another. There’s not much difference, besides the actual body shape, between overeating and undereating. Both are an attempt at control and a person’s attempt to protect themselves. In this piece, notice how she is facing the words, suggesting she has put her own self in this position. Description of this depiction (though some is left to the imagination):

She is a slight figure, more shadow than body, folded inward as though trying to disappear into herself. Her bones press faintly against pale skin. Her frame depicts how she occupies space – or rather, how she doesn’t. Her posture is closed, shoulders curled forward, arms wrapped around herself like armor. She moves quietly, deliberately, as if each motion must not draw attention. Her world has become small and contained – her room, her thoughts, her rituals. Her responses to communication are brief, almost apologetic. The isolation didn’t just “happen”. It’s a shield she’s chosen, a way to keep herself untouched by demands, by eyes, by life itself. It’s a cocoon of her own making – thin, fragile, and suffocating, yet it feels safer than being exposed. Inside it, she feels she has control, even as she fades.