To paraphrase Shakespeare “What’s in a word?” What is the impact of an utterance, a sound rife with cultural interpretation? For this exhibit at City Lights Gallery artists are asked to submit work responding to the concept of these 2 words, fat and phat, that sound the same, are spelt differently, and have different meanings. Among the range of social and cultural interpretations (but not limited to) are body image, oversized fashion and popular culture, imagery, spoken word, music, socio-economic status, positive and negative affirmation.

For those struggling with maintaining a healthy weight and growing up during the ultra-skinny “Twiggy” era or the current Ozempic craze, the plague of negative body image is an unending nag, affecting all aspects of daily life and sense of self-worth.

Contrastingly, the word PHAT with its roots in popular Hip Hop culture is short for emphatic or slang used to positively describe a person’s physical appearance; it can also be used to describe other things that someone enjoys, such as music or food. Others claim PHAT is an acronym signifying Pretty Hot And Thick. Thick in this sense, is another word for fleshy, as a desirable attribute. In this case Fat is Phat. The viewer may be prompted by the question, “Is Fat Phat?”

Exhibit runs through May 2nd, 2026.

EXHIBITING ARTISTS

Joe Annino, Cristin Bagley, Mary Basset, Michael Bazelais, Matt Bernson, Carlos Biernnay, Wesley Bishop, Octavia Byrd, Anthony Bryant jr., Claude Desir, Amanda Geib, Suzanne Kachmar, Gabriel Kopp, Daniel Lanzilotta, Elinor Levy, Iyaba Ibo Mandingo, Martin Masi, Liza Mellow, Eliana Mesa, Rikeisha Metzger, Nancy Moore, Anthony Newton, p.m.a., George Radwan, Elena Sicconi, Carole Southall, Ellen Tresselt, Rita Valley, Joan Wheeler, Felicity Williams, Justin Weingartner, Helen Zajkowski.