The obesity paradox refers to new medical research reporting evidence that certain types of cancers and strokes are best healed in the bodies of patients who are overweight. This data is supported by mortality rates citing overweight and slightly obese persons as outliving those that fall in the Body Mass Index’s recommended “normal” weight ranges. Scientists are researching whether or not the overweight body is potentially better armed against types of chronic disease than its thin counterpart. The hypothesis asks if, rather than a symptom of poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle, weight gain is an early symptom and defense mechanism for future disease.
 

This phenomenon begs us to question its evolutionary implications. If the overweight body shows progressive signs of adaptation, what do the future bodies of humans look like?
 

In If You Squint (they look like mountains), I explore this notion through metaphor. Piles are temporary space solutions of materials that will eventually fix cosmetic blemishes or elevation inadequacies of existing landscapes. These “bodies” of dirt and sand are considered to be in-between states of construction. I ask the viewer to compare this perception of piles to how we see fat human bodies – as temporary, requiring improvement and reconfiguration, and ignorable despite their increasing visibility as the landscape becomes more and more developed. These images depict a constructed terrain where reverence is given to the mound for its potential as a future landscape.