Video and story by Drew Clouse, still photos by Anna Brewer Productions The Whale, an art installation by Canadian artist Zoë Schneider now on view at Bunker Projects in Garfield, is named after Darren Aronofsky’s 2022 film “The Whale.” Schneider’s art incorporates objects and ideas often used to ridicule fat people — fat suits, masks and fat Halloween costumes, as well fat tropes in film and media — to critique the way fatness is presented in our culture.This exhibition exposes our cultural biases while communicating fat people’s frustration that these biases continue to exist. A fat suit is turned into a clown suit, a fat horror mask titled “Fatty Hamskins” and prosthetic inflatable bellies reconfigure into an imposing serpent, a bust wearing a double chinned fat mask sheds fake tears of Cheeto dust. Repositioning these objects to expose their implicit bigotry allows the viewer to glimpse the feelings of fat people. Artist Zoë Schneider at Bunker Projects in Garfield for her art installation The Whale. Photo courtesy of Anna Brewer Productions.Schneider works in sculpture, video and installation to critically examine the complexity of fat identity. Schneider holds a master’s of fine arts from the University of Saskatchewan and a bachelor’s of fine arts from the Alberta University of the Arts. In Canada, Schneider has exhibited solo and group exhibitions in Regina, Saskatoon, Estevan, Guelph, Mississauga, Lethbridge and internationally in Denmark, Germany and the United States. The Whale is Schneider’s first international solo show. Her next group show about the moon, “Lunar Lore,” will be in February at Saskatchewan Craft Council in Canada. Schneider lives and works in Regina, Treaty 4 Territory, Saskatchewan, Canada. Bunker Projects is a “nonprofit artist residency and experimental gallery that serves as a platform for emerging artists to develop their practice and create new works for exhibition.” NEXT Engagement Manager Emma Honcharski is on the board.The Whale is on view until Dec. 20 at Bunker Projects, 5106 Penn Ave., in Garfield, Thursdays from 5 to 7 p.m. and Sundays from 12 to 2 p.m.Drew Clouse is a Pittsburgh based filmmaker, occasional professor and theater technician for the Carnegie Science Center, who enjoys making as much as presenting films, videos and other types of moving images. Follow Drew on Instagram @scoob_clouse.The post The Whale tackles fatphobia through installation art in Garfield appeared first on NEXTpittsburgh.