Interview with Amber Lynn of Project GASTRIC

You may have seen my post the other day of a wheat paste I found in Northern Liberties that shows the image of a larger nude woman and says simply, “Damn girl, you thick.”

Well the post caused a little back and forth on my Facebook wall with some of my female friends essentially grossed out by the cat call-esc message. I soon found out however, after a little bit of research (AKA a reader of this blog left me a comment to this person’s website) that the artist was herself a woman, and Amber Lynn is her name. Interesting, I thought. So I emailed Amber asking her about the paste, and I discover that this wheat paste is but the very tip of the ice burg in what Amber is calling Project Gastric, and which is set to follow the two plus year journey of a woman before, during, and after Gastric Bypass surgery.

This is seriously one of the most exciting projects I’ve heard about lately. Please click below and read my little interiew with Amber and get as excited as I am… 

Project GASTRIC will be “exhibit GASTRIC” by 2013. It will probably take about 2 years or more to complete. In a nutshell, the reason being there are about 10-15 different bodies of work in all different mediums within the actual project. These bodies of work will not be completely shared to exact detail until the exhibit. However, the blog will be showing snipets of the works in progress and obviously share my journey along the way of documenting the “patient” (her identity will not be released until the Exhibit.) The “patient” had Gastric Bypass surgery on April 18th.

I will release a new “CAT CALL” each month via wheat pasting. Wheat Pasting because I want these cat calls to be public and uncomfortable for people because that is almost always how “cat calling” goes. The viewer may, as with all art, interpret the CAT CALL based on their own mindset and life experiences. THAT IS ART.

I mix blatant and conceptual art and thinking almost always and want people to question the intentions of my work and have their own opinions … and not always necessarily fully understand mine. CAT CALL will speak to everyone in different ways. As does cat calling. “DAMN GIRL.. YOU THICK” is interpreted differently to the giver and receiver. For example,

Giver may assume:
-it is a compliment
-a pick up line
-a joke to an over weight female, etc.

To the receiver it may be:
-a compliment
-a turn on
-offensive
-a deeply hurtful thing
-or even funny

This aspect of project GASTRIC (CAT CALL) can be taken to a level of “feminist” art by some, but again that IS VERY DEPENDENT on the actual viewer.

MY MESSAGE and OPINION:

CAT CALLING happens to men and women. Yes, mostly women. However, the body of work “CAT CALL” is not an attack on men (for me).

All of the phrases that are and will be used are ACTUAL CAT CALLS that I received when I was over weight. I have referred to a list of these cat calls that I kept religiously in my diary while in college and overweight.

Almost every cat call received was shouted out or whispered AS IF it was a compliment. Some were not. Sharing these do not stem rage or anger or hurt for me. Often they DID in the past when they occurred but sometimes they made me hysterically laugh.

REALLY, ” Damn Girl You Thick,” is not, and was not, my idea of a compliment. But again, to some women it is. BUT, however intended or taken, “Cat Calling” is always uncomfortable and public. I want the “CAT CALL” series to be uncomfortable and public…. thus wheat pasting.

Let woman and men interpret this how they will. I am not afraid of offending OR inspiring people. I do want to make people think twice or thrice. I am just sharing my past experience with being over weight and how I was “complimented”.

I do not have any other street art at the moment and would not consider myself a “street artist”. However, I do and have always used all different mediums and methods of passionately creating and sharing my work. All I live, eat, and breath is passion. I’m a passionist. I will always reach for the next level artistically and trade food and sleepless nights for it.

Look for a new project GASTRIC “CAT CALL” each first friday of the month on the streets throughout the Philadelphia region.