Lauren Greenfield

LAUREN GREENFIELD
Thin

October 19 through March 18, 2006
Opening Reception: Thursday, October 19, 7-9 p.m.

The Fahey/Klein Gallery is pleased to present a selection of photographs from Lauren Greenfield's latest publication Thin. The exhibition, in conjunction with the release of the HBO documentary film directed and produced by Greenfield, examines the lives of several young women suffering from eating disorders. The body of work takes the viewer inside the Renfew Center, a South Florida treatment clinic, to observe the trials and tribulations of their anorexic and bulimic patients. Emotionally charged and visually engaging, these photographs show the turbulent effects on the female body and the mental struggles attributed to the disease. Earning the trust of both the women and clinic, Greenfield received considerable access, providing an intimate look at how women continue to struggle for perfection by means of their bodies.

Lauren Greenfield's work in its vivid color presents a journalistic approach and unparalleled ability to access her subjects. Her documentary photography is innovative in the field developing a critical analysis on contemporary society as she describes her work as "portraits of a culture, not of individuals" (Greenfield, Guardian Weekend). One of the first photographers to examine the complex issues of women's relationship to their bodies, her work is considered "historic because it fearlessly probes the obsessions and compulsions that plague women in our commercial culture" (Trudy Wilner Stack, Girl Culture).

Lauren Greenfield, in the mid-1980s, studied film and photography at Harvard University. Once graduating in 1987 she began her career as an intern for National Geographic. By the 1990s she returned to her hometown of Los Angeles documenting the very world which she had grown up in. The final result was her first book Fast Forward: Growing Up in the Shadow of Hollywood. Since the success of her project she has continued to document youth culture publishing a second book Girl Culture. She was invited in 2002 to become a member of the international photojournalist collective, VII Photo Agency. Regarded as one of the 25 most influential photographers working today by American Photo, her photography has been collected and exhibited in such renowned museums as Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the International Center of Photography and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Her photographic work continues to receive numerous accolades and is frequently published in New York Times Magazine, Time, Harper's Bizarre, and American Photo.

The documentary film THIN will broadcast on HBO in early November 2006.