7 days
An extraordinary documentary project which is a testament to long-term collaboration between photographer and subject, finds
£40, GOST Books, hardback, 112 pages, ISBN: 9781910401958
As writers, we’re used to the adage ‘write about what you know’, but the same thing probably rings true for photographers. Or at least, it certainly helps if you’ve got deep-seated knowledge of the subject yourself, bringing an emotional connection that somebody more disconnected might struggle to recreate.
Kiss It! is an extraordinary book about what might appear to be at first glance an ordinary subject. It follows the story of Shannon, a young woman living with obesity who Abbie Trayler-Smith worked with for 12 years, from Shannon’s teenage years to adulthood.
Forming part of the photographer’s even longer-term project, ‘The Big O’ which look at obesity in school-age children and young adults, Abbie sees herself in Shannon, as she experienced the same issues as a child. She says, ‘At age 11, I felt judged, criticised and not approved of… Others saw only my imperfect body, not the fact that I was funny and clever and warm. I came to believe that if I wasn’t fat, somehow everything else in my life would be problem-free. As I stepped into adolescence, all of this became my identity. Fast forward to the age of 33. I was working as a photographer at a press conference for a launch of health services to teenagers and there she was – Shannon, with a voice I had never found, reading a poem addressed to the professionals, pleading to be understood and not judged. I saw the mutuality be
