EATING OUR WORDS: HOW MUSEUM VISITORS AND A SAMPLE OF WOMEN NARRATIVELY REACT TO AND INTERPRET LAUREN GREENFIELD’S THIN A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Laura Evans, B.A., M.A. Graduate Program in Art Education **** The Ohio State University 2011 Dissertation Committee: Patricia Stuhr, Advisor Christine Ballengee-Morris Karen Hutzel Copyright by Laura Elizabeth Evans 2011 2 ABSTRACT The fulcrum of this dissertation is the exhibition, THIN ‐ a collection of photography from the renowned chronicler of girl culture, Lauren Greenfield. THIN is a powerful assemblage of Greenfield’s work, compiled while she documented the lives of in‐ patients at an eating disorder recovery facility. Greenfield spent over six months at the Renfrew Center, earning the trust of the hospitalized women, so that she could tell their stories through photography and shed light on the deadly mental diseases that are eating disorders. THIN is a testimony to the struggles of these women as the exhibition details their experiences. Greenfield includes the women’s narratives as didactic labels for THIN and, in this way, this dissertation mirrors the exhibition by using narrative and auto‐ethnography as research methods. In the first part of this dissertation, I examine how visitors experience THIN at the University of Notre Dame and at Smith College, two locations where the exhibit was displayed. At each site, the public was encouraged to write comments about THIN in a logbook. I analyzed each logbook, looking specifically at visitors’ remarks on the socially educative nature of THIN and in how community learning was a part of the exhibition. I also write, auto‐ethnographically, about my experience as a witness and participant in the two different stagings of THIN at Notre Dame and Smith. In my narrative writing, I continue to ask how these ii university art museums have encouraged or discouraged social education and community learning. Part Two of this dissertation is a more personal examination of THIN’s impact. With the help of nine other women and myself, we write our narrative interpretations of three works of art from THIN. Using the semiotic tools of denotation and connotation, we express what we see versus what we know by looking at the photos, which have been stripped of their explanatory labeling. The result is a blank photo that is ripe for our own decoding. Through these narratives, I was able to explore how THIN was or was not an idiomatic exhibition and could generalize about how women empathize with the images. Throughout the dissertation, I suggest ways that museums and art educators might make use of this study of THIN and eating disorder photography. My emphasis on socially just education and on community learning is food for thought when considering how we can educate our students and the public about the danger of eating disorders and how to encourage positive body image. iii DEDICATION To Lavaughn Gram, I know you really want a child named after you but I think this is the closest I am going to get for quite some time. The process of writing this dissertation has felt like a protracted birthing cycle, or what I imagine it to be. Therefore, I christen this academic child, Lavaughn, your namesake. It’s what I can do, for now. And To You. Yes, You. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS To my committee: Thank you, Dr. Stuhr, for taking on this orphaned academic who needed an advisor. You were not an accident, this is certain. I feel lucky to be one of yours. Thank you, Dr. Ballengee‐Morris, you are a gift. You are a role model and friend and one of the strongest women I know. Thank you, Dr. Eisenhauer and Dr. Hutzel. You are both inspirations to young, female academics everywhere. To other academic inspirations: Thank you, Dr. Barrett. Though you are no longer my advisor, you will always be my mentor. Thank you, Shari, or Dr. Savage. Here’s to your wisdom, humor, advice, and friendship. Also, here’s to our friends Jamie and Claire, who provided me with much escapist entertainment through this process. To outside inspirations: Thank you, family. You always believed in me, even when I was in the throes of this disease that has become the inspiration for this dissertation. I love you beyond what I can write in this limited vocabulary of words. Thank you, Sean. I’m ready now. Double entendre. And, finally, thank you to the women of this dissertation. I struggled when I had to put only one author on the title page because this belongs to you as much as it does to me. v VITA 2002……………………………………………………....Denison University, Bachelor of Arts Major: Art History 2006………………………………………………………University of Toronto, Master of Arts Museum Studies 2008‐Present …………………………………………Instructor; Ethnic Arts The Ohio State University 2007‐Present …………………………………………Museum Education Consultant National Gallery of Art; Washington DC 2009‐Present …………………………………………Curator and Exhibition Installation Very Special Arts (VSA); Columbus, OH 2008………………………………………………………High School Education Intern Columbus Museum of Art; Columbus, OH 2006‐2007…………………………………………….. Academic Fellow National Gallery of Art; Washington, DC 2005‐2006……………………………………………..Education Specialist University of Toronto Art Centre 2005………………………………………………………Education Intern Ringling Museum of Art; Sarasota, FL 2004‐2006…………………………………………….. Don at New College University of Toronto 2001………………………………………………………Director’s Assistant Lopdell House Art Gallery Auckland, New Zealand 2000………………………………………………………Public Relations Intern Museum of Contemporary Art; Chicago, IL vi 1998‐2002……………………………………………..Art History Curatorial Fellow Burke Art Gallery; Granville, OH PUBLICATIONS Barrett, T., Chevers, I., Evans, L., Girardot, K. Kundu, R., Savage, S. (2009). A Conversation About Mentoring. Visual Arts Research, 35 (2), pp. 1­10. Evans, L. (2002). Looking Past Disability: The Life and Work of Five Artists with Disabilities. The Journal of Popular Culture, Conference Proceedings, 2002. Ann Arbor: Michigan State University. Evans, L. (2006). University of Toronto Master’s Thesis: Accessibility and Art: Making the Museum More Accessible. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto. Evans, L. (2002). Denison University Honor’s Thesis: Looking Past Disability: The Life and Work of Five Artists With Disabilities. Granville, OH: Denison University. PRESENTATIONS Evans, L et al. (June, 2010). Social, Cultural, and Ecological Sustainability in Art Education. Group Presentation at the International Society for Education Through Art, June 22, 2010. Rovaniemi, Lapland, Finland. Evans, L., Diallo, V., Savage, S., Smith, T., Stout, C. (May, 2010). Writing Away From Tradition in the Doctoral Dissertation: It’s a Delicate Subject. Panel Presentation at the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, May 27, 2010. Urbana‐ Champaign, IL. Evans, L. (May, 2010). Eating Our Words: Body Image, Women, and Voice. Presentation at the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, May 26, 2010. Urbana‐Champaign, IL. Barrett, T., Smith‐Shank, D with Evans, L. (April, 2010). Transforming Narratives: Little Red Riding Hood in the Classroom. Presentation at the National Art Education Association, April 15, 2010. Baltimore, MD. vii Evans, L. (April, 2010). Eating Our Words: Body Image, Women, and Voice in Lauren Greenfield’s THIN. Presentation at the National Art Education Association, April 14, 2010. Baltimore, MD. Breitfeller, K., Evans, L., Savage, S., Smith, T., Stout, C. (April, 2010). Bugs in Your Writing Basement? A Roundtable on Pesky Research Writing Issues. Presentation at the Ohio Arts Research Symposium, April 10, 2010. Columbus, OH. Evans, L. (March, 2010). Body Image, Experience, and Art. Presentation at the Center for Balanced Living, March, 13, 2010. Columbus, OH. Evans, L. (November, 2009). Body Image and Embodied Learning. Presentation to the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, November 11, 2009. The Ohio State University. Evans, L. (November, 2008). Life Beyond Denison. Presentation to the Art History Department, November 18, 2008. Denison University. Evans, L. (November, 2007). What are my Options in the Arts? Presentation to the Art History Department, November 20, 2007. Denison University. Evans, L. (April, 2006). Internships and Fellowships in the Arts. Presentation at the University of Toronto Art Centre, April, 13, 2007. University of Toronto. Evans, L. (March, 2002). Looking Past Disability: The Life and Work of Five Artists With Disabilities at the Popular Culture Association Conference, March, 2002. Toronto, ON. FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Art Education Museum Studies Art History viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………………….…………ii Dedication…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..iv Acknowledgments…………………………………………………………………………………….………….v Vita……………………………………………………………………………………..……………………………...vi List of Figures...………………………………………………………………………………………………....xiii Prologue: Prologue and Past: Why I Am Writing and Why You Are Reading…...……………1 What Comes Next? – What I Will Accomplish……………………………………………...4 Contextualizing Inspiration: The Background to THIN………………………………..5 Introduction: What Do I Want to Do?: Research Objectives…………………………………………….14 What Do I Want to Know? ‐ Research Questions………………………………………..15 Part One……………………………………………………………………………………….15 Part Two………………………………………………………………………………………16 How Will I Do This? – Research Methods………………………………………………….18 Feminism – A Thread Throughout…………………………………………......…..18