Thirty-Two Kilos by Ivonne Thein

Going through some research, I came up with a 29 year-old german photographer and graphic designer. Her name is Ivonne Thein (above), the creator of the exhibition "Thirty-two Kilos", a collection of about twelve photographs depicting non-professional models with anorexic bodies. 
The starved bodies are put into high fashion poses in order to provoke the fashion industry.

The picture above is the ad for No-Lita by Oliviero Toscani who clearly influenced Ivonne Thein's work. In fact, the idea of name of the exhibition "Thirty-two kilos"  came from the french actress/model who posed for No-Lita who weighed 32 Kg.

What struck me the most about Thein's photos was the fact that they didn't shock me as much as Oliviero Toscani's did. At first, I superficially thought that it was because I saw the No-Lita ad before so the subject just isn't shocking anymore. But actually, the real difference between Toscani and Thein is that Thein used fashion poses which is what makes her photos less shocking considering that we see similar pictures in magazines everyday. 

In any case, I admire both works because a theme like Anorexia has to be treated as a communication tool to induce people to think. Real Information is sometimes hard to take, but it's the only thing that creates awareness, and people HAVE to be aware not only of the risks of such disease, but also of the sociological events that make such a serious disease seem a common issue.