Sunday Spotlight: Victoria Charleson

Project Title:  Run From Hunger

Artist Statement: I developed an eating disorder as a 14-year-old because I believed that, if I was emaciated, the people in my life would finally believe me when I said that I was suffering. At the time, I was living with an untreated mental illness that was dismissed as teen angst and an eccentric personality. Although my mental health condition continued to be disregarded, my strategy was largely successful: I finally felt seen.

23 years later, I still fear that, without being thin, I will cease to exist in the world. Run From Hunger is a series of photographs that offers a glimpse into my world of restrictive eating; it is a confession of my precious secret.

Bio: Victoria Charleson is a lens-based, performance, and mixed media artist. Earning both her B.F.A. and M.F.A at The San Francisco Art Institute, Victoria makes work that deals primarily with the feelings and experiences of loneliness, heartbreak, sorrow and grief, because, in her words, "These feelings are so overwhelming and too heavy to hold; I need a place to put them down." She currently resides in a small village outside of Madison, WI, with her daughter, Priscilla.

You can find more of Victoria’s work on her website.