American photographer Haley Morris-Cafiero’s series The Wait Watchers is a bold depiction of how people look at women’s bodies, especially when they are not a size zero. The project started by accident when Cafiero was taking a photograph of herself in Times Square and noticed a man in the background of her picture looking at her in a judgmental way. “I had nothing to do with him,” Cafiero told People magazine in an interview. “To capture something so quickly is interesting, so I’ve been doing that ever since.” (Cafiero’s project has since garnered press attention around the world, including articles in Salon and Cosmopolitan.) In different locations, including New York, Berlin, Paris and Barcelona, Cafiero started taking pictures of herself out in public doing mundane things like shopping, sunbathing or talking on her phone, and although there has been some negative reaction to the photographs – the comment sections of several article were filled with nasty comments about her appearance – Cafiero says that this only gave her the motivation to take the project to the next level.

That next level is a Kickstarter campaign to produce a book of the photographs called The Watchers. The Magenta Foundation is proud to be collaborating with Cafiero on this project Magenta hopes you will join us in celebrating how special bodies of all shapes and sizes are by donating to the campaign. Donors of $50 or more will receive a signed copy of the monograph.

Haley Morris-Cafiero holds a BA in Photography and a BFA in Ceramics from the University of North Florida and a MFA in Art from the University of Arizona. She is an Associate Professor and Assistant Dean at Memphis College of Art. Her series of photographs, Wait Watchers, has been featured in over 50 articles all over the world, and she has appeared on CBS This Morning and NPR to discuss them. She has been nominated for the 2014 Prix Pictet and is a finalist for the Renaissance Prize.