Part performance artist part provocateur, Haley Morris-Cafiero dressed as the people who bullied her online about her body.
Haley Morris-Cafiero hits back at those who bullied her online by posing as her critics and taking selfies of herself dressed as them.
Part performance artist part provocateur, Haley Morris-Cafiero dressed as the people who bullied her online about her body.
The Bully Pulpit investigates the social phenomenon of cyberbullying through the public profiles of people who attempt to bully me. For years, people have been hiding behind their computer screens to bully others to the point where writing criticizing comments is common and celebrated. These cowards use the internet to bully those they find weaker than themselves.
I photograph myself costumed like the people who’ve attempted to bully me. Finding photos online, I recreated their images using wigs, clothing, and simple prosthetics, while small imperfections mirror the fallacy that the internet will shield their identities. Finally, I overlay the parodies with transcripts of the bullying comments, almost as if I were “subtweeting” them.
My inspiration for The Bully Pulpit was the countless numbers of people wrote mean-spirited comments about me in emails, tweets, Instagram posts, blogs and online comments sections when Wait Watchers was published online and went viral. But instead of responding individually to “deaf ears,” I realize that I can parody the bullies attempts by creating images and publishing them on the internet —the same vehicle used for their attacks—and the images would be seen by millions, and would live again, again, and again.
Part performer, part artist, part provocateur, part spectator, Haley Morris-Cafiero explores the act of reflection in her photography. Morris-Cafiero’s photographs have been widely exhibited in solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States and abroad, and have been featured in numerous newspapers, magazines and online including Le Monde, New York Magazine and Salon. Born in Atlanta, she is a graduate of the University of North Florida, where she earned a BA in Photography and a BFA in Ceramics in 1999. Nominated for the Prix Pictet in 2014 and a 2016 Fulbright finalist, Morris-Cafiero holds a MFA from the University of Arizona in Art. Her work is included in the 2021 publication Photography – A Feminist History by Emma Lewis published by Tate. Morris-Cafiero is represented by TJ Boulting Gallery in London and is an Associate Professor and Subject Leader of Visual Arts at De Montfort University. She earned her practice based PhD from Westminster University in 2023.
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