Brittney Cathey-Adams
As a fat-bodied person, I am told I must operate under shame and shrink myself as much as possible. When I stood in front of my lens nude for the first time, it created a radical change in self-perception. I realized that for two decades I had apologized for my body.
As my work began to develop, I photographed with one question in mind, “What does being in this body feel like?” I began to answer by taking up space, and making a body commonly seen as undesirable project power through vulnerability.
Images play a pivotal role in forming our belief system and ingrain biases. These photographs were created with the notion that there is no way to grow into someone I can love through hate. The images seen here are from an ongoing project that began in 2011.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Brittney Cathey-Adams
Brittney Cathey-Adams is a photographic artist currently located in Portland, OR. Her work includes themes of body politics, and fat representation that interrogates the histories of the male gaze and self-portraiture. Her work has been exhibited throughout institutions such as the de Young Museum in San Francisco, CA, Center for Photographic Art in Carmel, CA and Colorado Photographic Arts Center in Denver, CO. She was part of the 2019 Curatorial Prize at Blue Sky Gallery in Portland, OR and gave a lecture at the Portland Art Museum.
She will soon be heading out to the Sitka Center for Art & Ecology as a 2021 Artist in Residence, and recently had her work published in "The Body Issue" as a guest artist with the collective Female Photographers Org.
With a strong passion for photography and art education, Cathey-Adams dedicates herself to image making as well as sharing visual language through teaching at Portland Community College and Clackamas Community College.
