Using Instagram To Share Her Battle With Anorexia, Show The Reality Of Eating Disorders
Not all eating disorder content on social media is "thinspiration." Artist Christie Begnell is using social platforms in a positive light to bring awareness to the harsh reality of eating disorders.
The 24-year-old Australian woman uses Instagram as a way to share her detailed illustrations to document her recovery from anorexia.
In an interview with BuzzFeed, Begnell explained how she began to realize she might have an eating disorder after a breakup that was accompanied by family, work, and university issues.
“With my world falling apart, suicidal thoughts and self-hatred were at their peak,” Begnell told BuzzFeed.
Her illustrations, some of which can be seen below, portray the chaos going through her mind.
“As disturbing as some of the images, it gave my family a whole new level of understanding as to how I was feeling and what my thoughts were,” Begnell writes on her website. “My [eating disorder] was an unhealthy way of communicating that pain; art has become my alternative.”
Her drawings also bring awareness to an issue often left untold – anorexia among men.
Begnell cites her online, visual diary as being a big help on her road to recovery.
“I feel like there is such an important message that needs to be spread here and that’s that eating disorders are real, horrifying mental illnesses. I want to keep educating people and I want to keep helping people feel less alone. At the moment I’m just taking it all day by day and seizing every opportunity that comes my way,” she told BuzzFeed.
Begnell has published her illustrations in an e-book titled ‘Me and My ED.’
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