PDN Books of 2006
Photographs by Lauren Greenfield
Foreword by Joan Jacobs Brumberg
224 pages/80 color images/$35
Chronicle Books
Thin—actually a rather thick compilation of images and text about eating disorders and some of the [mostly] women who are affected by them—is a riveting, and at times heartbreaking, continuation of photographer Lauren Greenfield's exploration of contemporary female culture.
With haunting portraits of the patients being treated at the Renfrew Center for eating disorders in Coconut Grove, Florida, Greenfield's Thin puts a face on a mental illness that's rarely discussed. The book speaks directly to its readers: This can be your daughter, your mother, your sister or you. Eating disorders affect women of diverse backgrounds, as conveyed through the four patients profiled in-depth (their journal entries are reprinted here), and 15 other residents photographed at various stages of weight loss and recovery.
The book is the companion to Greenfield's HBO documentary Thin, which debuts this month, and a traveling exhibition.
—Jacqueline Tobin
