Katherine LonglyTo tell my real intentions, i want to eat only haze like a hermit

The book questions our relationship with food and our bodies in the specific context of Japanese society, combining testimonials, photographs, illustrations and archive images.

Eating is never just a technical act. Whether a source of pleasure or a tool for controlling our bodies, a means of connecting with others or a solitary delight, uninhibited or anxiety-inducing, our relationship with food can take many different forms. 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 was overweight as a child. Between control and pleasure, her relationship with food is still inhabited by these childhood memories, which shape the image we have of ourselves with force and persistence. She set out to explore these issues beyond her own experience, in the specific context of Japanese society, where the pressure on the body seems more intense than elsewhere.

During several residencies, the artist interviewed different people of various ages and backgrounds about their relationship with food and their bodies. She recorded their stories. We can thus understand how Yuki gradually sank into anorexia, eventually being able to swallow only liquids; how Ren managed to protect herself from the outside world thanks to the bentos prepared by her mother; how Kenichi reacted when he was categorised as ‘metabo’ after his waist circumference was measured by the municipality; how Mina managed to reconnect with her deceased mother by cooking with her brothers; and how Rika was able to hide her bulimia from everyone around her for over twenty years.

Katherine then asked all these people to illustrate their relationship with food themselves from their own perspective, using a disposable camera. This tool was chosen deliberately, as it allows no control over the final image, contrasting with the apparent perfection of the images posted on social media. The result is a real photographic ‘freshness’ and the possibility of being surprised by images of often overwhelming sincerity.

At the crossroads of art and anthropology, this book, produced in close collaboration with the people interviewed, invites everyone to dig deeper to discover the roots of their relationship with food and their bodies.