Body In Another Light
WARNING
By clicking on the thumbnail image below you accept exposure
to the full-scale images in this exhibition.
Artist Statement
The artistic representation of the human body, according to Nicolas Bourriaud is one part of a relational aesthetic, where the audience participates in completing the work and so and interpretation of this using the human form is by no means a new concept. This exhibition of creative works involving multiple contributors who provided representations of a ‘body in another light’; an interpretation of the concept in a figurative poetic sense. The role of the audience and the complete result of this provocative body of work is as much a social experiment as it is a statement of the hardening attitudes that we are developing as a society, in the Australian context a result of anti-libertarian conservative and religious order which now permeates our Parliament. This exhibition of photographs contains representations of the artist as a model accompanied by many others whose assertion of what and who they are evident in the poses they chose to inhabit.
Medium
Photography
Type
Online Group Exhibition
Further Details
In 2014 I was sent a photograph from a friend that provoked me to consider what it is to consider ‘body in another light’. The image was in low light, grainy and shot in ‘selfie’ mode on a standard smartphone camera. It was composed in 650 x 650 pixels square format (Instagram inspired) and was interestingly in black & white. That got me to thinking - what if all my my friends were brave enough, courageous enough to consider themselves in the same classical aesthetic and to send me a similar photo of how they would like to express themselves.
I set the parameters for myself as to how to format the works sent by cell phone to;
self generated imagery (photography)
self as subject
non-identifiable / identifiable by choice
body as landscape
aesthetic as focus
no larger than 650 x 650 pixels (square in final format)
I extended the invitation to 100 differing contacts and contributions grew exponentially. In a discussion with another friend who wrote the didactic for this exhibition, she was shocked to hear that in loading up an identifiable image of myself that it had lead to a sexual harassment case (completely exonerated with no case to answer) subsequent bullying and my resignation from one of Australia's G8 universities. In effect, that horrendous six months saw my partner and I vilified and exhaustingly defending our right to be ourselves a democratic, free and open web.
The focus of the work is in considering that which we make secret, those aspects of ourselves we would have otherwise hidden away from the public gaze, the liberty and freedom we hold ourselves away from in order to appear "better" for others and most importantly, the importance of personal freedom of expression, engaging an appreciative and sometimes critical audience in questioning their own loves and lives.
Didactic
"... I think this creative expression "Body In Another Light" is confronting to some people, especially when they can see the subject looking directly at the camera. We also have a problem in our western society with male nudes, because only women are "supposed" to be subjects of gaze in that way. Controversial.... just proves you are challenging ideas, which means you are doing something that contributes to new ways of thinking. People do not cope well with a male who is inviting what is usually the male gaze - looking at a subject and assessing their form from a purely sexual aesthetic - to consider the work as celebratory, classical and unlike pornography. This exhibition of artworks challenges homophobia, as heterosexual men are not used to aesthetic objectification of their own gender." Emma Davis - Canberra, Australia.
Links
A paper on the topic which expands on why I chose to create this body of works embracing the conceptualisation of Bourriaud - https://archive.org/details/AlexanderHayesAestheticsBeyondBourriaud
