Nana Says I Don't Need Seconds

"Nana Says I Don't Need Seconds" by Sarah Jerger, 2019.
Materials: Altered 1982 Diet Cookbook, acrylic paint, watercolor markers, colored pencil, 
magazine clippings, book pages, photograph, embroidery floss.

My art-making seems to come in fits and spurts. Perhaps that's because I have yet to figure out how to work it into my day-to-day busy life being a full-time working mama and grad student and, and, and... I'm grateful for my master's program to force me, in a way, to fit in creative time. I took the summer off of studies and tilted in hard to both work and play. I'm back at it this fall and eager to document my work as I wind through this final chapter of my graduate studies and this part of my personal path. It's been important to me to use my studies to explore topics of personal interest without the feeling of obligation to my professional self. This post and this work gets at that.

Over the last two years I've experienced (and continue to experience) massive transformation physically, mentally, and most definitely emotionally. It took some time, 30ish years in fact, to come to terms with my food addiction and my lifelong struggle with unhealthy eating, guilt, shame, more eating [repeat cycle]. Without going into too much detail, in two years’ time I've released 100 lbs physically, the heavy burden of addiction mentally (at least mostly), and more emotional baggage than I ever thought possible. There will always be room for improvement in all three areas. My motto is “progress over perfection,” in all aspects of my life. It’s important to note that getting to a healthy weight has been a by-product of significant mental shifts. Yes, a healthy weight was a goal, but not the goal. The goal is to feel good and really love my body at whatever shape and size it happens to be in. More acceptance and love, less guilt and shame.

When enrolled in my final master's class this fall, I took the opportunity to make art as a way to heal, as a way to make sense of my feelings, as a way to move through parts of my past and towards this identity transformation... as a kind of therapy really. The result of my first attempt was this piece, “Nana Says I Don't Need Seconds,” a mixed media altered book. There's a lot packed in here - matriarchal and media influences, body image, self-worth, the male gaze, diet culture/industry, etc… and some plain old fun experimenting with different materials. I hope you enjoy exploring it.

My next series of work (in process) has similar intentions as a reflective healing tool, but related to my yearning for slowness during this hectic stretched-too-far season of life layered on this fast-paced, consumer-driven, demanding modern day world. No doubt it'll morph as the work takes shape, but that's the idea right now.

Please reach out if you have questions or comments. You can find this “slice” of me over on Instagram at @morelove.lessguilt.

 
"Nana Says I Don't Need Seconds" was created for my Master in Emergent Media Class, ART 250 Women & Art. The prompt was to create a self portrait in any medium.