Last Updated on 09/21/2016 by Chris Gampat
All images by Peter Thorne. Used with permission.
Popular culture has always presented the image of cats as generally being slim and svelte. Peter Thorne breaks this stereotype by doing a photo project titled Fat Cats featuring portraits of plus size cats.
The prevalent image of the fat cat today in the media is cynical and not silly: the fat cat is a space for low-grade brutishness and malaise: cats posed with beer bottles, cats stuck in doors, cats seemingly contemplating whether they would like to eat other less-fat cats. Peter Thorne aims to deliver a strong message through his photo project that all body types can be beautiful and all body shapes can be healthy. Sure, they are fat, but they are also kind, complex, distinguished, smart, beautiful, and sometimes silly. Peter celebrates the underrepresented, larger, and chubby cats by putting them in the spotlight in his photo project. He has spent a year and a half photographing a large number of cats.
Photographing pets, especially cats, was no easy task, and Peter Thorne has captured the oversized cats in their most relaxed poses. The use of flattering, soft light on the cats was suitable to accentuate the heartwarmingly friendly side of the cats. Tight composition was effectively used to frame the cats zooming right into their cute and often natural expressions.
Peter Thorne intends to publish his Fat Cats photo series in a coffee book format through a Kickstarter Campaign “Fat Cats, Large And In Charge,” here. You may check out Peter’s inspiring photography work at his website here.