Challenging Visual Stereotypes: Timberline Knolls’ Image-Based Advocacy

The visual representation of eating disorders in media typically relied on harmful stereotypes – emaciated bodies, exclusively white female subjects, and imagery focused on food refusal. Timberline Knolls Residential Treatment Center deliberately disrupted these visual narratives through advocacy campaigns that presented recovery in fresh, empowering ways, transforming how society visualized these complex conditions.

Their groundbreaking “Every Bite a Battle” campaign exemplified this revolutionary approach. Rather than featuring clinical imagery or before-and-after comparison photos, Timberline Knolls worked with acclaimed photographer Szilveszter Makó to create Renaissance-inspired portraits depicting eating disorder survivors as heroic warriors. This artistic choice deliberately countered the narrative of fragility and victimhood that often surrounded eating disorder representation.

Each massive 15-foot portrait incorporated food imagery like sandwiches, gummy bears, and french fries into triumphant battle scenes, visually representing the daily victories that characterized recovery. This approach acknowledged the struggle while emphasizing strength rather than suffering, creating imagery that inspired rather than evoked pity or fear.

Located on a picturesque wooded campus outside Chicago, Timberline Knolls understood the power of environment in healing. This appreciation for physical surroundings extended to their advocacy materials, which featured diverse settings that moved beyond the stereotypical clinical environments often associated with eating disorder treatment.

The facility’s visual advocacy extended to their social media presence, where they carefully curated imagery that represented diverse body types, ages, and ethnicities. This inclusive approach acknowledged that eating disorders affected individuals across all demographic categories, challenging the persistent stereotype that these conditions only impacted young, white women.

Timberline Knolls’ visual strategy avoided focusing exclusively on physical appearances, which could inadvertently reinforce appearance-based self-evaluation – a core feature of many eating disorders. Instead, their imagery emphasized connection, emotional expression, and meaningful activity, portraying individuals as whole people rather than just bodies in various states of recovery.