Writing Machine, March 22

Past Work - What / Why / How

In my last work I engaged with a classical photographic genre: the nude. I was annoyed by the single sided view which is typically a man turning a woman or a gay man tuning another man into an image. So basically the nude is a manifestation of a male gaze and fantasy. I felt left out in this. So I used my own fantasy as a motor and created nude images with men. I looked for athletic male models, set up colourful and bright backgrounds and let them pose for me. I don't show any genitals but concentrated on their butt. I made them take strange positions and they seem to be very aware of the camera. All in all these are very staged photographs. I present them with a fold in the middle so they become more of an object. I call them centerfolds, referring to the center spreads in magazines that usually show naked women.

What issues was the work addressing

My motivation was the lack of female desire in images on the body. The female body serves male artists as a canvas to show their great abilities and make their fantasies come true. I could hardly find any work where women expressed their fantasies / desires. I feel this a big underestimated lack in (visual) art (and actually not only art but culture as a whole), that I find addressed to little. I feel not represented and I want to change that.

What is the relation to previous work

The works build up on each other. Also in the work before I worked from my motivation of desrie. Also this work was about the power and direction of the gaze but my focus within the work shifted.

What is the relation to a larger context

I feel connectd to queer feminism. Even though I don't want to label my work as feminist work, it's definitely queer feminist ideas that inform my work. Also I'm influenced by Michel Foucault and how he is questioning leading posttions of knowledge and history. Taking a queer look at art history, the male desire in the female form peaks in the genre of the nude. Also I examine gay photography and put my work into contrast.

Is there specific texts / media that influence you

The work of Michel Foucault for example "on sexuality & truth", Judith Butlers "Gender Trouble" and cultural critic Elisabeth Bronfen's texts influenced me. I also read a lot of text about queering art history which influenced me a lot. Of course Queer Theory in general informs my work a lot. I working on establishing a queer method of working for myself.

Current Work - What / Why /How

In my current work I take images from the internet and modify them. It's images from Beauty Queens at their crowning moments. I zoom in and blow up their faces larger than life-size. I move awaz from the image on the wall and go towards an installation in space. Bz using found footage taken from the net / screen and leaving in the artefacts I also engage with the idea of how these images reach us. I'm deconstructing the notion of beauty by concentrating on the very moment th Beauty Queens don't look beautiful in a common sense all. The frantic emotions turn into the opposite: joy becomes horror. This is also a comment on political developments.

How is the current work similar to the last project?

Both works are a photographic series with