Text On Method - Paula

Abstract: what is this document?; what do you want the reader to get from this text? (50 words) Introduction: Give outline of the text and make the points you want to get across clear. (200 words)

Current Practice (resource: here you can use the text made in the last session, interview...) What are you working on now?; (200) what do you want to work on? (200) Who can help you and how? (50)

Introduction

I just finished my latest work "worldpeace" which marks a change in my working practice as I'm working with found images for the first time. At the same time I started a writing practice in which I combine personal stories with fictional elements and images. In this text I will reflect on the new methods I use in my current practice and how the practice of writing can inform my future work as well as how it can change the perception of my previous work.

Throughout the past years I have been developing a photo practice which involves photographing other people. I prefer to work with real people instead of professional models. Finding people to pose and finding or creating settings for a session is an important aspect of my practice. Recurring themes in my works are desire, sexuality, gender and representation and I usually work in a serial way. For my work Exceptional Encounters I contacted men on an online sex-dating website with the request to photograph them naked in hotel rooms. The meetings with the strangers and the act of photographing them became a performative plot. I, the artist and image creator, served as projection screen for my models fantasy while they in return allowed me to take their image. The meetings were loaded with a sense of secrecy, fantasy and role play. The camera setting serves as an excuse to give in to a power play that involves no physical contact.

The notion of the camera setting as a surrogate.

How Queer Theory has informed my interest and practice Informed by Imagery of Western Art History Queering Art History Geschichte zu den Encounters umschreiben - die Treffen in den Vordergrund stellen Machtspiel