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For
Immediate Release
News
Release:
This
Is BEAUTIFUL!
Seattle
photographer Amanda
Koster and The
CEDRIC Centre are putting out a call for women on Vancouver
Island of all
ages, shapes, sizes, colors, and abilities to participate in This
is Beautiful , a photo shoot and video interview, August 21st &
22nd .
Participants
in the Victoria
shoot will pose
in the nude and take part in interviews, as part of a documentary and book
on the project. Koster will return to Victoria
in the New Year,
and re-team with The Centre to exhibit the photos for the general public at
a gallery space in Victoria.
Koster,
a professional photographer, started This is Beautiful in
2001, "I work in the media and wanted to contribute
with images that I think are beautiful, in addition to those that are already
out there. I want to show the beauty in every body."
This
is Beautiful aims to create a dialogue about women's bodies and the lack of
realistic images of women in media, a critical factor in the rise of eating
disorders and distorted body image.
Michelle
Morand,
director and founder of The CEDRIC Centre, an eating disorder counselling
centre, says, "Women of all ages are under incredible pressure to strive towards
an arbitrary physical ideal, and it's up to all of us to counter those messages
with positive images that celebrate all women as beautiful."
***
For
more information, please contact:
Brooke
Finnigan / Michelle
Morand
The
CEDRIC Centre
(250)
383-0797
info@cedriccentre.com
www.cedriccentre.com
Contact:
Amanda Koster
Office:
(206) 286-9707
Cell:
(206) 390-1057
www.amandakoster.com
Amanda@amandakoster.com
Backgrounder
for Amanda
Koster
Amanda
Koster is a documentary
photographer based in Seattle.
Besides shooting for national magazines and NGOs/non profits around the world,
writing, and videography she gives equal energy to her personal projects that
orbit socially conscience ideas.
Amanda picked up
a camera to get an edge on her fellow anthropology students at university
in and hasn't put it down since.
"I
want to teach through photography, a medium whose only requirement to appreciate
is to see. I want to give this planet the perspective that life and the world
is an incredible and very precious thing."
She
is a graduate of Southern Connecticut State University, with a Bachelors degree
in Art History and Anthropology and studied at the International
Center
for Photography
New York City.
Photography/media
training:
-911 Media Arts: Digital Video shooting and editing: 2003.
- Santa Fe
Photography Workshops: master workshops, 2002-3.
- Coupeville Art
Center
, ( Whidbey
Island , WA
): master workshops,
2000-01.
-Maine Photography Workshops ( Camden
, Maine
): Master photography
workshops 1997-98.
-International Center of Photography (ICP), NYC: Documentary, portrait, photojournalism
courses, 1994-96.
-Creative Arts Workshop, New
Haven , CT
: basic to advanced
photography 1992-94.
-Media Arts Center ( New
Haven , CT
): basic to advanced
PhotoShop.
-Citizens Television ( New
Haven , CT
): video/television
production courses 1994.
Teacher:
-2004 Teacher/mentor and only photographer on education curriculum committee:
Bridges (www.bridgesweb.org). Spearhead first African site in Takaungu
, Kenya
: train Peace Corps
volunteer and collaborate with UN, "Cyber School Bus". Teach students
digital photography, web site creation and internet communication to partner
with schools in USA
and worldwide.
-2003,
11/03: invited speaker and presenter for Popular Photography Magazine's
national "Digital Days" workshops.
-Photographic Center Northwest ( Seattle
), photography
instructor for adults, 1998-present.
-InsightYouth: photography program for youth-at-risk, Photographic Center
Northwest, 1999.
-City of Bellevue
(WA), 'Shutterbugs',
photography mentor for adolescents, 2000-present.
-Creative Arts Workshop (CT), photo instructor for adults, 1995-98.
-'Looking Out, Looking In', photographic mentor program for mentally and physically
disabled adults with a national traveling exhibition, 1997.
-'LEAP' program, 'Hotshots', a photo program for youth-at-risk, 1996-7.
-'13 Camps', photo program for elementary students, CT, 1996.
Select
projects:
-Editorial photographer for over 20 regional and national magazines
-"AIDS
Is Knocking", still and video documentary and interviews of AIDS orphans and
widows in Kenya.
-"Faces And Voices", Shoreline Community College, documentary project of immigrants
and refugees for the purpose of creating new ethnography, anthropology, sociology
course curriculum, publications and presentations, funded by the Department
of Education (F.I.P.S.E. grant).
-'This Is Beautiful', Seattle
based photography
project focusing on women's body issues.
Exhibited: Hugo House (Seattle), Frye
Art
Museum , Theatre
Off Jackson.
Permanent acquisition by the American Cancer Society.
-Doctors Without Borders: Documented a pre and post maternal health post in
Rio de Janeiro.
- National Museum
for Women: International
traveling exhibition about domestic violence, for the international year of
the women. Exhibition began in Beijing
, toured the world
concluding at the National
Museum
for Women, Washington
DC.
Contact:
Office:
(206) 286-9707
Cell:
(206) 390-1057
www.amandakoster.com
Amanda@amandakoster.com
The
CEDRIC Centre Backgrounder
The
CEDRIC Centre, (Community Eating Disorder and Related Issues Counselling),
specializes in the treatment of clinical eating disorders, sub-clinical disordered
eating patterns, and related issues such as anxiety, depression, and distorted
body image. Their counselors provide bodywork, group, and individual counselling,
as well as community outreach presentations for schools, educators, and health
professionals. All of The CEDRIC Centre's counsellors have long standing recovery
from an eating disorder, and are proud to have facilitated the recovery of
hundreds of men and women in Victoria
, BC
and beyond.
The
CEDRIC Centre was founded by director Michelle
Morand MA, February
18 th 2001 . Morand
started The Centre due to her own experiences as a compulsive eater. She recovered
over a decade ago, and went on to earn her Masters in Counselling Psychology
from Gonzaga University
in 2002, and is
now a Registered Clinical Counsellor. In January 2004, Michelle
was nominated
as YM/WCA Women of Distinction in the Community Legacy category.
In
addition to her work at The Centre, Morand is currently writing a book that
details her experiences with disordered eating. The book incorporates a decades
worth of wisdom and professional experience and will allow readers to experience
freedom from their own disordered eating patterns.
The
CEDRIC Centre uses a multi dimensional approach to recovery. They provide
group and individual counselling, complemented by supportive office staff,
a resource library, newsletter, and a yearly retreat. They also recognize
the need for an integrated, holistic approach to recovery. And to meet this
need they offer Zero Balancing bodywork in addition to traditional cognitive
behavioral therapy, for an integration of both body and mind.
***
For
Further Information, please contact:
Brooke
Finnigan / Michelle
Morand
The
CEDRIC Centre
(250)
383-0797
info@cedriccentre.com
www.cedriccentre.com
Why
do we need This is Beautiful?
- Fewer
than half of female students (43%) are satisfied with their appearance.
Satisfaction decreases with age among girls, from 50% who are satisfied
at age 13, to 41% at 15 and 17. (Healthy Youth Development, 2003 Adolescent
Health Survey III, The McCreary Centre Society, 2004)
- 49%
of girls and 14% of boys reported that they used dieting to lose weight
in the previous year (Healthy Youth Development, 2003 Adolescent Health
Survey III, The McCreary Centre Society, 2004)
- More
than 17 % of high-school girls in B.C. suffer from some form of eating disorder.
About 8 % of males are affected (Dr. Laird Birmingham, Provincial Director,
St. Paul's Eating Disorder Program as quoted in The Vancouver Sun, February
5, 2004)
- In
2002/2003, there were 110 Referrals to the Eating Disorders Program at BC
Children's Hospital. 11.8% of those referred were in from the Vancouver
Island Health Authority. 90% of those referred were female. Mean age at
referral 14 yrs. 8 months.
- There
were 42 admissions into the Intensive Treatment Service at BC Children's
Hospital Eating Disorders Program. Average length of stay is 104 days.
- 37%
of Canadian females age 11, 42% of Canadian females age 13 and 48% of Canadian
females age 15 say they need to lose weight (Health and Welfare Canada
(1992). The Health
of Canada's youth, views and behaviors of 11-13-and-15-year-olds from 11
countries. Ottawa
ON
: Minister of
Supply and Services H39-239/1993.).
- 52%
of girls begin dieting before age 14 (Johnson et al. (1984). Journal of
Youth and Adolescence, 13.).
- 17%
of girls aged 12-18 years self reported substantial disordered eating patterns
(National Institute of Health, Toronto
)
- The
fear of being fat is so overwhelming that young girls have indicated in
surveys that they are more afraid of becoming fat than they are of cancer,
nuclear war, or losing their parents (Berzins, l. (1997). Dying to be thin:
the prevention of eating disorders and the role of federal policy. APA co-sponsored
congressional briefing. USA.
).
- Eating
Disorders have the highest mortality rate of all mental illnesses. The mortality
(death) rate for eating disorders is approximately 18% in 20-year studies,
and 20% in 30-year follow up studies. The annual death rate associated with
anorexia is more than 12 times higher than the annual death rate due to
all other causes combined for females between 15 and 24 years old (Cavanaugh,
C. (1999). What we know about eating disorders: facts and statistics. In
lemberg, Raymond, & Cohn (Eds.), Eating disorders: A reference sourcebook.
Phoenix ,
AZ.: Oryx Press; SuHivan P.F. (1995). Mortality in anorexia nervosa. American
Journal of Psychiatry, 152(7), 1073 - 1074.).
- Approximately
3% of women will be affected by an eating disorder during their lifetime.
(Health canada
, A report on
Mental Illnesses in Canada
, 2002)
- 52%
of female students in BC are trying to lose weight and 27% of male students
are trying to gain weight (The McCreary Centre Society's 1999 pubtication
Healthy Connections: listening to BC Youth)
- Factors
believed to contribute to eating disorders include biological and personal
factors as well as society's promotion of the thin body image. (Health Canada
, A report on
Mental Illnesses in Canada
, 2002)
- "Children
and youth pay attention to social messages of who is acceptable and who
is not...In discussions with children and youth across North America, weight
was the most cited reason for victimization - by peers and adults alike."
(Beyond the Hurt: Preventing Bullying and Harassment, RespectEd Violence
& Abuse Prevention, 2002).
- Eating
disorders carry with them a high risk of other mental and physical illnesses
that can lead to death. (Health Canada
, A report on
Mental Illnesses in Canada
, 2002)
- Since
1987, hospitalizations for eating disorders in general hospitals have increased
by 34% among young women under the age of 15 and by 29% among 15-24 year
olds. (Health Canada
, A report on
Mental Illnesses in Canada
, 2002)
- Men
are often forgotten because their eating disorder goes undiagnosed, yet
about one in ten men is affected with bulimia (Bitomsky, (2002). Men often
untreated for eating disorders. The Medical Post, 38(37).).
- In
a study in Ontario
of 2483 female
students; significant symptoms of eating disorders and binging and purging,
or both, were reported by 27% of girls aged 12-18 years. Dieting was the
most prevalent weight-loss behavior, also common was other unhealthy weight-Joss
behaviors such as self-induced vomiting (Jones, Bennett, Olmsted, Lawson,
& Rodin, (2001). Disordered eating attitudes and behaviors in teenaged
girls: a school- based study. CMAJ, 165(5),542 - 552.).
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