World Obesity Federation Member Obesidades launches stigma-free image gallery: “This is what living looks like”
World Obesity Federation Member Obesidades has launched its first stigma-free image gallery, "Así se ve vivir" ("This is what living looks like"), a collection of honest portraits that invites viewers to rethink how people living with obesity are seen and represented.
Changing the way we see obesity
For years, the visual representation of obesity has been shaped by stigma, dehumanisation, and stereotypes that reduce people to fragments of their bodies rather than showing them as whole individuals. Obesidades' new gallery offers a different approach.
Made up entirely of stigma-free images, the collection shows real people living their everyday lives: at home, in public spaces, in nature, taking part in sport, in medical settings, and in their social lives. They want the world to know that it has been unfair to reduce them to negative stereotypes and, based on that, make assumptions about them - even to the point of discrimination. We are complete individuals, shown with dignity, identity, and autonomy, said Xóchitl Hernández, one of the persons who participated in this image gallery.
An honest connection
"This exhibition offers a different perspective: here, the image accompanies, acknowledges, and makes visible," said Verónica Vázquez Velázquez, President of Obesidades. "We want to change the visual narrative of people living with obesity, through honest portraits, we show real people through their identity, their story, and their everyday presence."
By replacing bias with recognition, the gallery aims to build an honest connection between the images and the people who view them, helping to shift the collective narrative around obesity, one photograph at a time.
Why representation matters
The language and imagery used to depict people living with obesity has demonstrated to increase weight stigma, on how people living with obesity are treated in healthcare, employment, and daily life, and on how they see themselves. Stigma-free image banks are a practical, evidence-informed tool for journalists, healthcare professionals and organisations, policymakers, and communicators who want to be part of the change and contribute to raising awareness about the importance of treating obesity and to portray obesity accurately and respectfully.
Obesidades' new gallery adds an important resource to the growing movement towards person-first, stigma-free communication across the obesity community.
Get involved
As Verónica Vázquez Velázquez asks: "And you, what are you willing to do to change the narrative of obesity and its treatment?"
World Obesity encourages members, media, and partners to make use of stigma-free image resources such as this one when reporting on or communicating about obesity, and to consider what role they can play in shifting the narrative towards one of dignity and respect.
View the image gallery
View the stigma-free image gallery, "Así se ve vivir" ("This is what living looks like") and rethink how people living with obesity are seen and represented.
Go to image gallery