To Tell my Real Intentions, I Want to Eat Only Haze Like a Hermit
Katherine Longly
Eating is never just a technical act.
A source of pleasure or a control tool over one's body, a way to connect with people or solitary delight, uninhibited or generating anxiety, our relationship with food can take different faces. It is intimately connected to our emotions, and acts as a subtle revealer of our social and family history. But where does it lay its foundations? Katherine Longly questioned these issues in the particular context of Japanese society, where the pressure held on people's bodies seems more intense than elsewhere.
During several residencies in the archipelago, the artist interviewed various people on the subject of their relationship with food and their bodies. We can thus understand how Yuki sank into anorexia, little by little, to end up being only able to swallow liquids; how Ren managed to protect herself from the outside world thanks to her mother's bentos; how Kenichi reacted when he was categorized "metabo" after having his waistline measured by the municipality; or how Rika has been able to hide his bulimia from everyone for more than twenty years. Then Katherine asked these individuals to illustrate this relationship from their own point of view, using a disposable camera.
At the crossroads of art and anthropology, this project invites everyone to dig to discover where their relationship with food and their body is rooted.
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Katherine Longly graduated in photography, communications and anthropology.
Her personal work is often photographic, but this is not an exclusive relationship. On the basis of her projects, there is very often a question: How do the campers manage the nearness with their peers (Hidden Living)? Why do some Chinese prefer to live in a false Parisian avenue rather than in a traditional hutong (Abroad is too far)? What is the counterpart that urges a person to gulp down mass amounts of food enough to hurt their body (Rotten Potato)? Where is our relationship with food and our body rooted (To tell my real intentions, I want to eat only haze like a hermit)? Behind these questions lies a desire to understand a social phenomenon. And humor is not excluded.
She also pays very special attention to actively involve people she works with in the construction of the projects.
Her work has been awarded with various prizes, publications and exhibitions in Belgium and abroad. She also took part in artistic residencies (China, France, Japan).
Rotten Potato
Katherine Longly used to be overweight when she was a child. "Rotten potato" refers to the nickname she was afflicted with. For a long time, she tried to keep some distance from that period’s photographic memories. Then she began to paint them in oil painting on objects directly related to food.
She next decided to explore our relationship with food and our bodies where it reveals itself in the most conspicuous, uninhibited, and exaggerated way possible: at eating contests. She followed "biggest eaters" contests in Belgium and France, in order to understand what is the counterpart that drives champions to deliberately do violence to their bodies.
She was surprised by the seriousness surrounding the organization of these competitions, and the pride that surrounds the champions. The audience acclaim them, their competitors envy them, their relatives encourage them. The journalists only have eyes for them during the competitions.
Who does not want one day to be the center of attention?
But you must still find the discipline you can excel in.
"I don't know, it's just neat to see people believe in you, for anything, really" - Tim Eater X Janus, American champion.
Hernie & Plume
Katherine Longly met Blieke, Nicole and their little dog ‘Plume’ on a December evening, a few days before Christmas. While she was taking pictures of illuminated caravans, a man came out of his cabin, and asked her what she was doing there. She apologized, and he said, ‘Come inside and have a beer with us instead.’ They became friends. Then they invited her to various wacky parties and told her about their amazing life story.
This is a story about social mobility, stereotypes, aging and, most of all, love.