Laila Abril

On Eating Disorders the Epilogue

[ EPF 2014 FINALIST ]

ESSAY CONTAINS EXPLICIT CONTENT

At the end of 2010, after leading a year in recovery to overcome ten years of bulimia, I decided to document the struggle of girls battling the same disease. For the next three years, I worked first on Chapter One: ‘A Bad Day’, describing the hidden ghost of the illness through the daily life of Jo who suffered from severe bulimia and practiced self-injury. Then, I created Chapter Two: ‘Thinspiration’, a documentation of the Pro-Ana, an online community who promote the eating disorder anorexia nervosa as a ‘life style choice’.

At this point I realized my aim had focused on explaining all these uncomfortable aspects around eating disorders, in attempt to demystify the taboos. This reflection led me to face the most feared ghost; and chapter three was born: ‘The Epilogue; the story of the Robinson family’ and the aftermath of losing their 26 year-old daughter to bulimia.

 

 

This last chapter ended up giving voice to the suffering of the indirect victims, the unwilling eyewitnesses of a very painful degeneration. I explored the problems families face in dealing with both their sense of guilt and the grieving process; the frustration of close friends and the dark ghosts of this deadliest of illnesses; all blended together in the bittersweet act of remembering a loved one. In my stay in Chattanooga, I inquired in the past to reconstruct Cammy’s life from day one. Picking up the valuable testimony of her family and friends; as if it were a puzzle tried to fit each piece. With unlimited access I rummaged in her diaries, letters, objects, memories to find all those tracks that would make me understand her struggles.

Now is time to draw the whole work to a conclusion. First I plan in give a closing to The Epilogue by creating a multimedia piece with all the audio visual material I made and I’m planning to. The final step is to collaborate in programs, which research the benefit impact of these stories and how can become a useful tool for fight this world epidemic.

 

 

Bio

Laia Abril is a documentary photographer, journalist and ‘maker of books’ raised in Barcelona. Her work has been published widely in, amongst others, The Sunday Times Magazine, International New York Times, D Repubblica, Le Monde, FT, Burn, PDN, CNN, GUP, Esquire etc. She is a member of the editorial team at COLORS Magazine since she enrolled FABRICA  ‘the Artist Residency in Italy’ in 2009. Her projects have been exhibited in Italy, Spain, Poland, London and New York. In 2010 she joined the agency Reportage by Getty, as an emerging talent, and was selected at Plat(t)form Winterthur PhotoMuseum 2012. More recently was a finalist at the Burn Emerging Fund (2012), shortlisted for Fotovisura Grant (2013), Jury’s choice Award at the CENTER (2013) and nominated to the Magnum Foundation and the Joop Swart Masterclass. In 2012 she self-published the fanzine ‘Thinspiration’ and most recently she released ‘Tediousphilia’ (Musée de l’Elysée, 2014) and ‘The Epilogue’ (Dewi Lewis, 2014).

 

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Laia Abril