Phobia, Philias, Fetish

My next body of work will focus on male and female bodies, depicted in photographs and simultaneously in video recordings of the photographs being produced. My subject will be heavily muscled men, bulbous in shape, with grotesque protrusions and with statures which greatly exceed my own.

The work that will come out of this year’s research and practice will be the assemblage of grotesque human and animal interaction. Working with a highly produced photographic practice, I am approaching my “subject” as a fashion photographer would his young, female model. In both of these scenarios, the object is fetishised by the photographer.

I am proposing an exhibition of photographs and videos, each which depict a different perspective on the subject portrayed. Some will be ethereal, romantic, and soft images. Others will be grotesque, and harsh, and often disgusting. Some will be fantastically beautiful, and reminiscent of something sweet and sensual. All of these attributes will be revealed by the different approaches, and by the different processes applied. There will be a look into the production of some of these shoots, revealing the exploitative quality prevalent in all photographic work. There will also be the highly produced footage which is completely divorced from its process by the time it makes it to presentation. What is interesting about all of this is abstraction and representation. One object revealed in a variety of different ways. And given my taste, the most beautiful view of the creature is the most grotesque, and the most erotic.

phobia, philias. fetish. the eroticisation of a philias.

The aspect which is new to my work is the inclusion of video documents of my photo shoots.

In my earlier works, I have often placed myself in the image, and used the light as a metaphorical gaze that burns and tarnishes the skin, changing its natural tones. I became my own object, and turned my body into the meaningless flesh in which it often feels to be.

In this project, I am revealing more about the practice of exploitation and objectification in a rather uncommon style. There is a veil of intimacy in the images, but really, there is no reciprocity between myself and the subject because they are just that. my subject, and they are not a willing participant but i dominate the animal and force it to perform for me. granted, i also show them affection, and they do seem to love it.

The key elements in the photographic work is the pull between the erotic and the grotesque, and the confrontation between body and landscape. The photographic work is typically isolated from a recognisable environment, and relies on the juxtaposition of the figures, the shadows and lines of the lighting, and the texture of the skin.

The slow motion

why i love those cow flaps they remind me of the vagina and of something wet and flowing, I find their movement sensual, and it reminds me of the sensation of becoming aroused- but - i am not aroused by the sight of the flaps, but in some way, they are very reminiscent of it.

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research notes on women and animal intimacy

the long pig

Anne Lamb has been working with photography, color, and photoshop shenanigans to create bizarre images of human and animals. Her work explores identity, sexual anxiety, social roles, and the larger scale of objectifcaiton.

Intimate Nature: The Bond Between Women and Animals

“The biophilia hypothesis suggests that there is an instinctive bond between human beings and other living systems. Edward O. Wilson introduced and popularized the hypothesis in his book, Biophilia (1984).[1] He defines biophilia as "the urge to affiliate with other forms of life. It was first used by Erich Fromm to describe a psychological orientation of being attracted to all that is alive and vital. Wilson uses the term in the same sense when he suggests that biophilia describes "the connections that human beings subconsciously seek with the rest of life.” He proposed the possibility that the deep affiliations humans have with other life forms and nature as a whole are rooted in our biology. Unlike phobias, which are the aversions and fears that people have of things in the natural world, philias are the attractions and positive feelings that people have toward organisms, species, habitats, processes and objects in their natural surroundings.”

phobia, philias. fetish. the eroticisation of a philias.

“Susan Griffin (born January 26, 1943) is an eco-feminist author. She describes her work as "draw[ing] connections between the destruction of nature, the diminishment of women and racism, and trac[ing] the causes of war to denial in both private and public life.”[1]”

women and animals as mindless servants

by portraying them as these grotesque shapes and colours, they blend together and become more powerful, more intimidating, and more other worldly

sexually aggressive women being termed : Vixen female foxes were known as vixen’s and they were a “much resented and feared” “intruder”. a predator. vixen now means a woman who threatens a mans security. a domineered towards men.

Beauty and the beast: fetishising the difference between men and women

Neither man nor beast: feminism and the defense of animals

species/gender boundary,