georgiaamy-blog1

[georgiaamy-blog1]

While Sank endeavours to portray older women as feminine, Juno Calypso offers a critique of the construction of femininity with self-portraits of her alter ego named ‘Joyce’. Calypso works with sets and props to create images of the mundane suburban life of her character. As Calypso explains, ‘Joyce appears alone, consumed by artifice. Her glazed appearance acting as a mirror to the exhaustion felt whilst bearing the dead weight of constructed femininity.’[1]

In Popcorn Venus (Fig. 12) ‘Joyce’ is pictured unenthusiastically emerging from a cake. The garish dated decoration and display of food overwhelms the character. The image balances the tragic and comical nature of the situation. Rather than seduction, ‘Joyce’’s expression shows that she is completely bored and detached from the situation - it looks as if her eyes are moments from rolling to the back of her head. The deadpan aesthetic contradicts the party scenario, and the food appears sickly and unappetising against the pastel hues of the room. ‘Joyce’ has sucked out any joy in the room.  Calypso speaks of the idea that women are photographed like food. ‘…as these very glossy, artificial things pumped full of preservatives, we’ll do anything to stop both decaying’.[2] The photographer takes from this concept by presenting a character who is heavily made up and hard to assign an age to, she uses fake tan, false teeth and eyelashes and a blonde wig to become indistinguishable from her actual self. Like food, the woman becomes a passive object completely consumed, in her case, by notions of femininity and seduction.

The comparison of the woman and food is also repeated in Reconstituted Meat Slices  (Fig.13).

The can of meat is processed so that it no longer resembles meat, but instead a non-descript pink solid. One is reminded of Soylent Green, a fictional source of protein made from humans. Without knowing what exactly constitutes this as meat and the way in which it appears to somehow be involved in the female’s demise, the photograph is comically sinister.  Calypso’s fake tanned body resembles the colour of the meat, the character of ‘Joyce’ is somewhat lost here, replaced by a mass of blonde hair also becoming non-descript. Like the meat that is loosely identifiable as food through colour and texture, the codes of femininity such as the blonde hair, tanned skin and pink strap are the signs that it is in fact ‘Joyce’.  Both subject and tinned meat slices relate to each other in the way that they are both artificial and processed by society - they no longer resemble themselves. The tinned luncheon meat was marketed as a nutritious food, similar to the marketing of the ‘perfect’ female body, but ultimately both are artificial. Here, the female has in effect given up and begins to share the form of the inanimate object beside her.

Calypso’s work also edges to the genre of sci-fi as can be seen in Seaweed Wrap (Fig.14).

After putting sea clay on her body in the past, Calypso decided to recreate the alien appearance with green body paint in her lone visit to a honeymoon Hotel. A green hand emerges from a pink love heart shaped bath tub in a bathroom featuring a mirrored wall.  The image is part of a video Calypso created which involves imagery of ‘Joyce’ contemplating her reflection as she stands in the bath. The video opens with the lights of the room resembling extra-terrestrial space shape headlights in the dark, accompanied by eerie music of a woman’s sweet sounding voice.

After inspecting herself in the mirror (Fig.15), ‘Joyce’ is pictured sat in the bath, her movements become repeated and reversed. (Fig.16)

At one minute twenty-nine ‘Joyce’’s now naked body is green as she repeats the same actions in the mirror (Fig.17).

The effect of panelled mirrors is that multiple angles of ‘Joyce’ can be seen. The imagery then changes intermittently between green ‘Joyce’ and regular ‘Joyce’, giving the impression that her alien version is part of her subconscious materialising as she explores her appearance. Green ‘Joyce’ appears to allude more obvious sexuality with her nakedness and movements, while regular ‘Joyce’ looks more feminine and delicate.

The imagery of the green ‘Joyce’, in the words of Calypso, ‘is all about why we feel ugly…We actually see a monster…We spend hours in the bathroom trying to shed, shave and wash off this horror to reveal our true ‘beautiful selves’.[3]

Calypso may be posing as a specific character, ‘Joyce’ however, the character represents less of a subjectivity and is more applicable to a wider context. Even ‘Joyce’ is somewhat of a shape-shifter. Who ‘Joyce’ is, from the perspective of subjectivity is difficult to define. She becomes a series of codes - a body teetering between human, alien and doll. She is a construction of a construction, created to undermine the notions of femininity and identity or the lack thereof. She is the masquerade of womanliness. As with the tinned meat slices, a commentary can be made on the fact that society has lost the distinction between what is and is not natural. In reality the luncheon meat is not natural and neither is the body which does not decay. False eyelashes, and fake tan are not natural but through repetitive imagery in media it has somehow overtaken its status as artifice and become part of what a woman is naturally expected to look like. Calypso’s photography exaggerates the lack of reality.  

A Modern Hallucination shows a sexually frustrated red head signalling her anguish with clenched fists. She lays tense and wooden on one of two single beds in the bedroom. Her body is laid out following the same shape as the blanket on the bed and similar to the decorative floral pillow, she becomes part of the decoration. She is completely impassive, paralysed, but her inner frustration can be detected. In an interview, Calypso speaks of being influenced by Naomi Wolf’s book The Beauty Myth and the idea of the Iron Maiden. The title A Modern Hallucination is quoted from Wolf.

In the Beauty Myth, Naomi Wolf alludes to the Iron Maiden to establish a metaphor of the entrapment of women and the image of ‘beauty’.  The Iron Maiden was a torture device fitted with spikes, the exterior taking the form of ‘a body shaped casket painted with limbs and features of a lovely, smiling young woman’.[4] Once inside the victim was unable to move and met their demise. Being trapped is a ‘modern hallucination’ for Wolf, who establishes that directing attention to ‘imagery of the Iron Maiden’ is a cultural tactic of censorship over ‘real women’s faces and bodies’.[5]Offering a way for the phallocentric culture to retain control over institutional structures, which otherwise would be threatened. The sense of woman is repressed, reduced to a state of superficiality - to the ‘lovely smiling young woman’, only existing through images of standardised ‘beauty’ and an enforced feminine ideal.[6] The hallucination becomes real. Wolf suggests that ‘beauty’ is a political currency used against women to restrict, manipulate and to undermine. The character of ‘Joyce’ relates to the image of the iron maiden, a trapped woman ‘paralysed by her obsession with self-improvement and the artificial construct of femininity’.

[1] Juno Calypso, About < http://junocalypso.com/about/> [accessed 14 August 2015].

[2] Nell Frizzell, Portraits of a Surburban Hell <http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/artist-juno-calypsos-turns-prawns-fake-tan-and-sauna-masks-into-portraits-of-suburban-hell-710> [accessed 14 August 2015].

[3] Nell Frizzell, “I sounded like I was having the best sex”: Juno Calypso’s one-woman world tour of honeymoon hotels < http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/jul/02/juno-calypso-tour-honeymoon-hotels> [accessed 15 August 2015].

[4] Naomi Wolf, The Beauty Myth (London: Vintage, 1990), p.17.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Wolf, p.17.

from my essay  IMAGES OF WOMEN: CONTEMPORARY ART PHOTOGRAPHY ACTING AS A SPACE FOR RESISTANCE IN THE DOMINANT VISUAL CULTURE OF SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE INTERNET, 2015

[georgiaamy-blog1]

Drawing more on Barcan’s notion that not everyone experiences their body and identity to be coherent, is the series In My Skin (2011-2013) by Michelle Sank. Sank photographed a selection of young people who did not feel their selves in their own skin, from those who had suffered anorexia to those who had, or planned on having, cosmetic surgery. The series shows a stage of cosmetic surgery a while after that depicted in the photographs by Ji Yeo.  Sank acted as director in the subjects own personal settings with the intention of capturing indications towards individual personalities. Although the environments look natural, Sank speaks of removing or repositioning elements ‘to create or intensify a narrative’.[1] This in itself echoes the idea that the subjects are taking away or adding to their own bodies, the feeling that it is not quite right and if improved would create a better visual. Although it cannot be seen in the images without this knowledge, it is an additional element of the theme of control which is recurrent.

Sank’s series documents the effect on real young people of the pressures in western society which involve the weight of physical appearance. At a pivotal time in their lives when they are discovering their identity, these young people are exposed imagery of perfection which they are vulnerable. As Sank says, ‘I think that young people today are more susceptible to what is expected from them through a never-ending exposure to different media sites.’[2] In My Skin considers the effect these media sites have over young people and the lack of power they may feel in their own bodies which causes them to assert control through means such as body modification.  There is a paradox of vulnerability and control. While her subjects are vulnerable to the standards of beauty, pressures of society and insecurities of their body, she questions whether actively pursing surgery is a way of taking charge of their own bodies -  a sign of powerfulness as opposed to complete powerlessness. This assertion of control can be seen to be problematic in that these young people are potentially harming their bodies (eating disorders, cosmetic surgery) and ultimately buckling under the pressures of society, losing individuality in the attempt to become more universally accepted. Sank does not want viewers to undermine her subjects, but instead ‘empathise’ and ‘respect’ them.[3]

Nicola - Recovering from Anorexia and Rachel- Breast augmentation - Twins 20 years old (Fig.8) shows twin sisters in a bedroom. Despite being twins, the bodies of these two subjects differ completely. While Rachel recovers from anorexia, a condition which causes the female body to assume a more masculine appearance (flattened chest), Nicola has had her breasts augmented, a process which would typically give what would be considered to be a womanlier appearance. Both anorexia and cosmetic surgery are extreme ways in which to move closer to the western ideal of beauty. It is interesting to be able to see two different extremes together, and in the same family. One takes away from her body, while the other adds to it, both ultimately pursuing the same goal. A connection can be seen between the two women through their body contact and closeness. The inclusion of the mirror does not only relate to the idea of body image but also the reflection of bodies in the fact that the two subjects are twins.  Here the subjects are not only there to be scrutinized by themselves in the mirror but through the gaze of the photographer and the viewer. Rachel’s pose resembles a fashion model, with her hand on her hip, whereas Nicola stands completely head on in a more ethnographic way. This gives the impression that Rachel is performing and Nicola is there to be examined. Rachel’s stance appears to allude more of a hint of defiance perhaps in the strength to recover from anorexia, while Nicola appears more detached.  

Jade 20 years -Tattooed Eyebrows and Hair Extensions (Fig.9) gives the impression that the subject is a puppet due to her posture with her legs angled in and head tilted to the side. Her stiffness of body and expression as well as her long blonde extended hair, pink dress and shiny smooth legs gives the impression of a life sized Barbie. This effect is emphasised by her mirror image and while we can understand which is the ‘real’ body and not the reflection, the impression is given that Jade is a reflection of the beauty industry rather than an individual identity. Like the Barbie, this image of physical beauty is mass produced, creating doll like people. Jade appears to express no emotion and seems to be somewhat trapped inside a body that she still appears to be uncomfortable in. Jade does not appear powerful or in control in any obvious way but perhaps engaged in a performance, a womanly masquerade.  The tilt of her head appears to create a reflection in the way a viewer might study something unfamiliar or that they are criticising. In this way she could be making us aware of the way in which we look at and judge others.

In the additional captioning of the images informing the viewer of what the individual suffers from, or has had surgically done, the subject becomes the label. No longer is she simply Jade but they are Jade who has tattooed eyebrows and hair extensions. This gives the impression that it is these physical modifications that reshape the subject’s identities. This could relate to what Sank describes as ‘a moment of balance between who they are and who they might want to become.’[4]

Ultimately, Sank’s images show a rawer side to the ‘perfect’ and ‘flawless’ beauty that is displayed in the dominant visual culture. By taking away the glamour and the glitz of the tight crop studio picture, she brings the concept home in a way that encourages viewers to comprehend these subjects as more than just bodies but as real people with inner struggles.

Sank’s earlier series Wondrous (2005-2006) focuses on the ageing body as something that can be feminine and beautiful, despite society’s generally held opinion that it does not conform to these ideas. Instead of showing the body which has been unnaturally interfered with, she explores a naturally occurring change. Women are constantly told to do anything to avoid bodily decay, from using creams and cleansers to cosmetic surgery. Sank attempts to show a feminine side of older age, going against the image of what would normatively be prescribed as beautiful.

Untitled (Fig.10) shows an older woman bathed in sunlight as she stares pensively out of the window. Surrounded by flowers she is among natural beauty, signifying her own. The strong contrast between her sunlit skin and the shadow behind her not only highlights her skin but creates an impression of radiance.  The subject is semi-naked wearing only underwear, with her breasts exposed. Viewers may be more accustomed to seeing the naked younger female body as it is deemed most pleasant to look at and more sexually appealing, but here Sank shows the beauty in the older body. The fact that the subject is partially naked does not portray as anything other that beauty, in fact it appears natural and comfortable. Sank’s interest in human vulnerability is repeated here. Vulnerability is something generally linked to age, with the body becoming more fragile, however, again she balances this out, on this occasion with the idea of experience as power. The subject’s  thoughtful look links to the idea of insight and the fact that while she may be beautiful and feminine visually she also shows ‘internal reflections and wisdom’ which is beautiful in itself.[5]

Untitled (Fig.11) shows the subject in a bedroom setting. In The Nude: The Cultural Rhetoric of the Body in the Art of Western Modernity, Richard Leppert says that the bed ‘represents less the site of mutual pleasure and love than a place for the punishment of females’, alluding that women, particularly nudes in art, are pictured laying down, with the bed the site of ‘eternal submissiveness’.[6] Although pictured in the same environment, this image breaks the convention as the subject is positioned in a sitting position as opposed to reclining. In addition to this, the camera and thus the viewer, is positioned at a lower level causing the subject to slightly towards the viewer. The camera angle gives the impression that the subject is elevated rather than in a submissive stance. This is further established by the strong eye contact. Rather than reflecting on herself, the subject begins a dialogue with the viewer. Meeting the viewer’s gaze generally means two things, either accepting the male gaze  as the spectator is able to ‘rise above the level of peeping Tom’ or a demonstration of their own power and the reflecting back of the look.[7]  

Her slouch indicates that she is relaxed and perhaps not phased by the scrutiny of the gaze, able to assert her own power. The dress she is wearing hangs down on her shoulder, this and the semi-sheer fabric gives a sign of femininity. The dress is white and traditionally feminine, giving the impression of purity, however, the exposed shoulder takes the image from innocence to sensuality. The overall impression is not one of a submissive female who lacks sexuality, but instead a sensual, powerful figure in charge. Similarly, to the previous image, there is an automatic assertion of vulnerability from being viewed on the bed however, the female does not appear to look exposed.

[1]Anthony Luvera, Michelle Sank/ In My Skin (2013) < http://www.photomonitor.co.uk /2013/09/in-my-skin/>[accessed 5 August 2015].

[2] Sahara, Borja, Portraits of Young People Searching for a More Perfect Self Through Body Modification (2013) <http://www.featureshoot.com/2013/09/portraits-of-young-people-searching-for-a-more-perfect-self-through-body-modification/

> [accessed 6 August 2015].

[3] Anthony Luvera, Michelle Sank/ In My Skin (2013) < http://www.photomonitor.co.uk /2013/09/in-my-skin/>[accessed 5 August 2015].

[4] Anthony Luvera, Michelle Sank/ In My Skin (2013) < http://www.photomonitor.co.uk /2013/09/in-my-skin/>[accessed 5 August 2015].

[5] Michelle Sank, Wondrous <http://www.michellesank.com/wondrous-intro> [accessed 9 August 2015].

[6]Richard Leppert, The Nude: The Cultural Rhetoric of the Body in the Art of Western Modernity (Colorado: Westview Press, 2007), p.82.

[7] Leppert, p.105.

from my essay:  IMAGES OF WOMEN: CONTEMPORARY ART PHOTOGRAPHY ACTING AS A SPACE FOR RESISTANCE IN THE DOMINANT VISUAL CULTURE OF SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE INTERNET, 2015

[georgiaamy-blog1]

Beauty Recovery Room Ji Yeo

In her series Beauty Recovery Room (2010), Ji Yeo offers a glimpse into the process of cosmetic surgery in Korea. The photographs, shot soon after surgery show women in the very early stages of healing, still wrapped in gauze and bandages following their operations. Here the concept of surgery is raw - the women are in a midpoint in between ‘imperfection’ and ‘perfection’, a time when they would normally hide away.

The impact on their bodies is noticeable and their pain can be comprehended. In viewing these women in this way, it makes the extreme nature of such a process obvious (Fig.5). To be sat in bandages, looking deflated and beaten, in the pursuit of beauty may seem ludicrous to those who cannot relate.

In her statement, Yeo says,

Going under the knife, enduring bruises, scars, and being under general anaesthetic several times are no longer considered risky or extravagant. They have all had multiple procedures and have plans for future augmentation.[1]

One can sympathetically reflect on the suffering of these women in comprehending what they must endure in wanting to take such extreme action over their bodies. However, the fact remains that these procedures are not actually seen as extreme in Korea. This fact puts in to perspective how frighteningly obsessed with beautification society can become. Beauty is a currency for women in Korea and the high standards have created a de-sensitisation and normalisation of cosmetic surgery.

Kathy Davies stressed the importance of not undermining women who make this choice. Instead of targeting the women who make this choice, the culprit is certainly society on a much wider scale.    To completely accept a society which places the image of perfection on a pedestal so high that it requires women to have their bodies cut up to achieve it is not an option. Women could feel like they do not belong in their body for multiple reasons, but one of those is inevitably because they feel inadequate when comparing themselves with mainstream imagery of ‘perfect’ bodies. While Yeo’s women may take some form of control of their bodies to re-negotiate their identities, it could be argued that the situation itself may not have materialised if society regarded women’s bodies in different ways. The change begins with society viewing women as more than just bodies.

In 2014, South Korea ranked third in the world for the amount of surgical procedures (surpassed only by United States and Brazil, with their significantly higher populations)  and third for face and head procedures, with an overall a total of 440,583 surgical procedures carried out that year.[2] The post popular procedures were eyelid surgery and rhinoplasty, surgeries which aid in achieving a more western aesthetic.[3]

Untitled (Fig.6) shows a woman covered in bandages. She stands in a pose which implies discomfort with her arms crossed and her eyes averted away from the lens. It can be established that surgery was completed on her face (perhaps her jaw), her arms, her legs and her breasts. The woman’s bruising and scarring is hidden beneath the bandages. She appears like she is being held together by it and would fall apart if unravelled. Without the bandages, she would be semi-naked, but the intervention of cosmetic surgery has meant that she will be forever clothed by her modifications. In her quest to be ‘nude’ she denies her own nakedness.  Her shadow is cast on a bare wall, as a reflection of her body and has been distorted by her pose and bandaging. It is as if she stands purposefully away from another version of herself, discontent with it. The shadow could also be interpreted as an inclination that she is now a shadow of her former self.

In Untitled) (Fig.7), the mark of cosmetic surgery can more clearly be seen. It is ironic that the woman pictured has endured cosmetic surgery to improve her appearance, yet appears no doubt in a worse state due to the cuts and bruises on her face. She shares a likeness with a woman who has been the victim of domestic abuse and as she stares, exhausted, into the lens, it gives the strong impression that cosmetic surgery is a painful process. It is interesting that what has become such a normal process for women in parts of the world like Korea can still ingrain an image as disturbing as this in the mind. This is due to the fact that women are generally seen before or after surgery, when healing has taken place. It is not uncommon to hide or deny surgery, women are expected to become ageless beings of perfection and despite numerous regimes, interventions and rituals - to appear effortlessly beautiful. In her series Beauty Recovery Room, Ji Yeo highlights the reality of achieving such standards of beauty that are impressed on women in the dominant visual culture, offering an important glance into the beauty industry and the painful processes women go through in order become closer to the ideal.

[1] Ji Yeo, Beauty Recovery Room < http://jiyeo.com/thebeauty-statement/> [accessed 9 August 2015].

[2] International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, ‘Procedures performed in 2014’, ISAPS International Survey on Aesthetic/Cosmetic, (2014), 1-18 < http://www.isaps.org/s Media/Default/global-statistics/2015%20ISAPS%20Results.pdf > [accessed 10 August 2015], (p.4).

[3] Ibid, p.12.

©GeorgiaDonkin2015

[georgiaamy-blog1]

Sophie Harris Taylor- Slight Wounds

Experience and time are imprinted on the bodies of women in Sophie-Harris Taylor’s Slight Wounds (2014). The aesthetically statuesque forms do not replicate the smooth, seamless texture of marble but show living flesh, scarred and marked. Influenced by the imagery of renaissance goddesses, Harris-Taylor subverts the notion of the classical perfected body while simultaneously drawing upon the ethereal. Instead of glorifying the bodily ideal, she places the ‘imperfections upon an alter…making gods of the truth.’[1] The truth which Harris-Taylor speaks of is the reality of the female body, it’s corporeality, where blemishes are the traces of living, and experience is something which itself signifies beauty.

Untitled (Fig.1) shows variations of light and shade, which highlight the nuances of the body, while the deeper contrast of skin against the dark background creates an opalescent effect. The subject’s head is obscured, as with each image from the series. In this particular example, the viewer is invited to perceive the semblance of the body detached from any distinct identity. In doing so, the eye is drawn to each texture and mark upon the body without the ability to project emotions towards a visible face. The effect of this is that the form is open to a detached mode of consideration and appreciation from the viewer, who is encouraged to see beauty in what would generally be regarded as imperfection. While this could be judged to be problematic in that the female’s identity is reduced to the ‘imperfections’ of her body, Harris-Taylor’s intention was to elevate the subjects into godliness.

The obtuse angle of the body is complimented by the triangular shapes of the raised arm, leg and breast creating a sharp and angular aesthetic. This is echoed by the angle created with the material which interrupts the left hand side of the frame with the line of the fabric she is laid on. This also disrupts any idea that the body is suspended in darkness, details like creases in the fabric in a range of the images bring the subject back into the setting of an interior, naturalising it.

The pose allows for the bruised ribs and scar on the subject’s torso to be clearly visible. The body becomes a vulnerable, breakable thing which could be said is part of its beauty. The ribs and the bones of the toes which can be seen so visibly, in addition to the general posing, gives a skeletal impression, creating the idea that the viewer can see beneath - a hinting of anatomy, while simultaneously drawing attention to the surface. Harris-Taylor’s posing appears to be part of a metamorphosis from the classical poses featured in paintings such Titian’s Venus of Urbino, Manet’s Olympia and the variations of Odalisque to the distorted nudes of Bill Brandt, while also sharing the fluidity of more contemporary ballet movements. The viewer is not only encouraged to scrutinize the scars of female flesh, but also the temporary marks of a code of ‘womanliness’. For example, in Untitled (Fig.2) the reddish marks left by underwear can be seen.

This trace of under clothing intersected by the vertical scar places the body in a position between nature and culture and gives the impression that the culture is also scarring. Furthermore, the marks form a cross on the subject’s, perhaps allegorical, or more disturbingly a branding. Either way, the lines dissect the body into four, drawing more attention to its corporeality and the details of the skin. The object edging into the left side of the frame echoes the bodily scar as it cuts through the darkness with a similar effect.  It is also noteworthy that the bodies used in Slight Wounds all vary in skin tones (Fig.3) and shapes (Fig.4) but are all presented with an uninterrupted aesthetic.

By including not only bodily marks, but bodies which generally don’t conform to societal standards -  in regard to body mass for example -  Harris-Taylor is calling for an enlightenment of a beauty beyond socio-cultural boundaries.  Encouraged is a more nuanced idea of beauty while allowing the term to be opened up and understood through other bodies. As opposed to romanticising the ideal, here the imperfections are romanticised as signifiers of beauty. The photographer speaks of wanting to ‘go beyond subverting the ideal’ and instead to ‘ignore it’.[2] However, she does not appear to ignore the ideal as far as the images of idealism form part of her foundation, but dismantles it. It could be questioned whether in fact ignoring the ideal as opposed to subverting would be a more progressive way towards a new image of the woman which is completely liberated from the traditional conventions which played a part in it’s imprisonment.

The form of the bodies often takes on a quasi-surreal appearance with the positioning of the limbs and the ‘missing’ body parts. In addition to the anonymity from hidden faces and heads, thus adds to the idea of the female body as taking the form of an object. The idea of the object can be attributed to the influence of the statuesque, monuments of beauty and homage to the divine. The ‘imperfect’ female body is modelled on this aesthetic to be exalted. However, although the body can then exhibit a truth, portraying ‘beauty in the body as an object’ could be seen to be viewing the female body in a reductive way.[3] As Journalist, Angela Carter writes in Nothing Sacred,

It is a central contradiction in European art that its celebration of the human form should involve subsuming the particularities of its subjects in the depersonalising idea of the nude, rendering her - in the name of humanism -  an object.[4]

In considering the idea of the naked woman, Carter goes on to say ‘Naked, a woman can never be less than herself for her value in the world resides more in her skin than her clothes.

Though naked, she loses her name and becomes a ‘blue nude’ […]  ’Venus’, this personal anonymity is the price of a degree of mystification of her naked body that means she can accede to a symbolic power as soon as her clothes are off.[5]

Interestingly the terms ‘naked’ and ‘nude’ are used interchangeably here. If we were to consider notions of nakedness and the nude from Clark, Slight Wounds would primarily appear to be images of nakedness being ‘imperfect’ and individual bodies. Culture is generally attached to the nude, itself being considered as a form of dress. However, traces of culture are no doubt evident, and these bodies do not exist outside of representation, they exist as representations of the ‘other’ body of the woman, that is against the ideal, and they also stand to represent goddesses as well as visually resembling a tradition in art history. Here, like Clark’s nude, the act of photography has elevated the body, but other than the posing, the imagery does not resemble the traditional nude, highlighting rather than masking, each slight wound. Instead of raw material to be moulded into idealism Harris-Taylor embraces the raw material as beautiful. Then these images appear to obliterate the binary of nude and nakedness, which as Lynda Nead argued remains a flawed concept in itself.

While the women are de-individualise in respect to their missing faces, the individual marks on their bodies injects back the sense of individuality and non-universality. However, the problem persists that the bodies are regarded as objects despite their more truthful nature. Could showing the faces of these women have reduced their divinity? Would their ‘imperfections’ still be seen as beautiful or do women need to be seen as objects by a detached viewer in order for their individual bodies to be deemed as beautiful? Perhaps Sophie Harris-Taylor’s series functions as a bridge between ideologies in a highly saturated world of idealism that may be hard to convince. It is important to consider this as one way in which photographers are attempting to use fine art photography in order to resist what is the dominant image of women and encourage a change in perception of the female body.

[1] Sophie Harris-Taylor, Slight Wounds (2014) <http://www.sophieharristaylor.com/Slight-Wounds> [accessed 5 August 2015].

[2] Shaun H Kelly, Slight Wounds by Sophie Harris-Taylor (2014) < http://www.strantmag.com/slight-wounds-by-sophie-harris-taylor/> [accessed 5 August 2015].

[3] Ibid

[4] Angela Carter, Nothing Sacred (London: Virago Press, 1982), p.103.

[5] Carter, pp.103-104.

© Georgia Donkin 2015

[georgiaamy-blog1]

Naked versus Nude

In drawing attention to the importance of women’s relationships with their own body, it is also important to look at the relationships outside of individual experience, such as how the body functions within the cultural discourse. In Kenneth Clark’s well-referenced book, The Nude, Clark attempts to establish the differentiation between a binary opposition of the body: the ‘naked’ and ‘nude’.

“To be naked is to be deprived of our clothes and the word implies some of the embarrassment which most of us feel in that condition. The word nude, on the other hand, carries, in educated usage, no uncomfortable overtone. The vague image it projects into the mind is not of a huddled defenceless body, but of a balanced, prosperous and confident body: the body re-formed.”[1]

What makes the nude ‘the body re-formed’ is the fact that as opposed to imitating nature, the artist of the nude uses the naked body as a foundation to create a new form through perfecting it. The body is objectified in that Clark perceives that ‘the nude is not the subject of art, but a form of art.’[2]  This is further established by the quote ‘we do not judge it as a living organism, but as a design.’[3] The naked body is judged upon its imperfections which ‘disturb’ us, making the viewer feel ‘disillusion and dismay’.[4] In its reformation as the nude these are then eradicated. In regards to photography, Clark rightly gives the example of lighting techniques and retouching as methods of eliminating these imperfections.  He says that the photographer’s ‘object is not to reproduce the naked body, but to imitate some artist’s view of what the naked body should be like.’[5] Ultimately, then, the nude is not reallity, it is a transcendence of the naked, a subjective interpretation of what will please the eye.  Through the nude the body loses its individuality, it is informed by something which is commonly acknowledged: the conventions of beauty. The nude body is a representation constructed by culture. In his book Ways of Seeing, John Berger modifies Clark’s interpretation.

“To be naked is to be oneself.  To be nude is to be seen naked by others and yet not recognized for oneself. A naked body has to be seen as an object in order to become a nude. (The sight of it as an object stimulates the use of it as an object.) Nakedness reveals itself. Nudity is placed on display.  To be naked is to be without disguise.[6]”

Whereas Clark suggests that the nude is somewhat superior to the naked, Berger appears to do the opposite by asserting that to be naked is to be true and organic whilst to be nude is to be objectified. For both writers, the naked is without cultural intervention while the nude is constructed by it. Lynda Nead highlights the problem with this fact in her book, The Female Nude: Art, Obscenity and Sexuality.

“This discourse on the naked and the nude […] depends upon the theoretical possibility, if not the actuality, of a physical body that is outside of representation and is then given representation, for better or for worse, through art; but even at the most basic levels, the body is always produced through representation. […] There can be no naked ‘other’ to the nude, for the body is always already a representation.”[7]

The idea of representation can be read in Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. Butler writes,

“[...]politics and representation are controversial terms. On the one hand, representation serves as the operative term within a political process that seeks to extend visibility and legitimacy to women as political subjects; on the other hand, representation is the normative function of a language which is said either to reveal or distort what is assumed to be true about the category of women.”[8]

[1] Kenneth Clark, The Nude, 2nd edn, (London: J. Murray, 1956; repr. London: Penguin, 1985),p.1.

[2] Clark, p.3.

[3] Clark, p.4.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.

[6] John Berger, Ways of Seeing (London: London British Broadcasting, 1972 repr; London; New York: London British Broadcasting and Penguin, 2008),p.48.

[7] Lynda Nead, The Female Nude: Art, Obscenity and Sexuality (London: Routledge,1992), p.16.

[8] Judith Butler, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, 2nd edn (London: Routledge,1990), p.2.

©GeorgiaDonkin2015

[georgiaamy-blog1]

IMAGES OF WOMEN: CONTEMPORARY ART PHOTOGRAPHY ACTING AS A SPACE FOR RESISTANCE IN THE DOMINANT VISUAL CULTURE OF SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE INTERNET

Master’s Dissertation Abstract 2015

ABSTRACT

Photography plays a vital role in the construction and maintaining of femininity, womanliness and beauty. It has the potential to both oppress and liberate women depending on how it is used. With the proliferation of images both off and online, one cannot escape imagery of the ideal. The dominant visual culture of the internet and social media involves high and often unattainable standards of beauty which have miss-shaped society’s understanding of and attitude towards women. As both Photoshop techniques and methods of beautification become more advanced, some photographers choose to reject and challenge the standardised image of ‘perfection’ which is created. Art photography holds the potential to act as a space which can resist and ultimately contribute to the alteration of the way that society views women and their bodies. But what does it take to renegotiate the image of the women, and undermine the current notions of beauty and perfection?

©GeorgiaDonkin2015publishedwork

[georgiaamy-blog1]

Conversation with Zervou-Kerruish as part of a project “Out of The Frame” Temporary Exhibition Proposal for The Photographer’s Gallery 

Team: Georgia Cook (me), Camilla Jurado, Francesca Gilardi Sotheby’s Institute of Art

Zervou-Kerruish is a London based collaboration, Natalie Zervou and Jack Kerruish.

You are both graduates from Norwich School of Art and Design and have been collaborating since 2012, what was it that brought you together to begin this collaboration?

Jack: We both graduated with very separate practices, me in photography and Natalie in fine art. Natalie had been working on a project and was starting to incorporate photography into it so asked me to help shoot some stuff. Most of the work I had previously shot was editorial or fashion and working with Natalie’s experimental approach to photography really interested me. After this project we realised that our respective practices and expertise strengthened the ideas we were interested in and so we decided to keep working together.

Natalie: It’s been really exciting watching our practice unravel. Sometimes we discuss an idea but are on different pages aesthetically. This creates a very playful back and forth until we reach somewhere that works in a way we might not have originally thought, but is in fact stronger.

J: We are both interested in different ideas. Natalie is interested in the frame and I’m interested in subverting photography’s ability to tell the truth. These interests combine when working together.

Was there any particular reasons behind your desire to create works on these themes?

J: I’ve always been interested in the duplicity of photography. It’s a medium, which we trust to accurately depict the world around us, but it really cannot do it accurately. We are sold snapshots and opinion and are taught to read these images as truth. So part of what I want to achieve is to create work that questions the bond of trust between the image and the viewer and our trust in visual records.

N: I feel our work is an extension of what stimulates us visually and academically, so rather than ‘setting’ out to do something in particular, the themes we explore come about very organically depending on what we’ve been seeing, reading etc.

What is your opinion about what photography means in contemporary culture and the way in which it is developing?

Photography is everywhere - it’s the medium we are exposed to most. From Instagram to advertising to Tumblr, Facebook, newspapers and magazines; the world is awash with images. You simply cannot go a day without being exposed to them. Photography is now being used as a way to curate the digital self, to build and manipulate the narrative of our lives, to create envy, awe and aspiration in our peers. We read images at face value even though they could have been retouched, CGI’ed, or used in such a way as to alter their narrative.

Because of this we are beginning to see photography go the same way as painting, it is gradually being liberated from the mere representational. Artists are now using it in abstract ways creating work that pushes the boundaries of what a photograph can be or mean in the 21st century.

Can you speak a little about edifice/artefact?

N: Our approach to Edifice/Artifact is affiliated with painting and has been driven by not only the historical detail in paintings but by the spaces these paintings adorn. In 1965 Donald Judd wrote, ‘the main thing wrong with painting is that it is a rectangular plane placed flat against the wall. A rectangle is a shape itself; it is obviously the whole shape; it determines and limits the arrangement of whatever is on or inside of it.’ This quote motivates the idea of pushing the execution of this series beyond the frame and provoked an urge within us to present and display these images in tangible new ways and the title strengthens the oscillating nature of the series.

J: It is also about bringing architecture to the fore and asking questions about what is consumed in the gallery space.  

Do you each have any major influences?

N: We both tend to enjoy the same work aesthetically. I really like Dutch and Flemish traditional still life painting. Reading Norman Bryson’s Looking at the Overlooked was a major influence. I am also influenced by contemporary artists and have a particular appreciation for artists using materials in specific ways such as Karla Black and Samara Scott. Pipilotti Rist’s recent show ‘Worry Will Vanish’ at Hauser and Wirth was extremely powerful for us both and we came out of the show on a completely enthused high.

What is the desired effect on the viewers of your work?

We are image-makers so first and foremost we want our work to be aesthetically pleasing, though not necessarily singular in its narrative. We want viewers to ask questions of the work and what is being represented. We want them to maybe feel a little uneasy about what they see so that they refocus the act of looking, to read the image in a non-traditional way. More recently we have been collecting physical objects to install alongside the images encouraging a corporeal interaction as the body is directed around the objects and through the space emphasizing their restless nature.

Images: Zervou-Kerruish from reflections with object, edifice/artifice, still life with fruit, visit http://zervou-kerruish.com