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. I will photograph these men using extremely bright and saturated light, which will in certain areas, wash away detail and recognizability from the figure. The intention here is to further warp the familiarity of the bodies, and alter the body builder association. The images will all be tightly framed on certain muscles, allowing the muscles to produce shadows on its own body using the artificial light. This will create an illusion of a landscape, but I hope to maintain some of the erotic suggestion with the curves of their bodies. In addition to the still images, another important aspect of the project will be the video documentation of the photos being created. The production aspect of this project is important for the way in which the entire project will be viewed. I am beginning this work by talking to men online and and on dating websites which have the massive bodies I spoke of. After contacting them and asking to meet in person, I am suggesting that they allow me to photograph them in the nude. We are than meeting in an apartment, alone, and I video the process of the two of us cooperating in making the images. I do this for two reasons: 1, I do not have the finances to hire an assistant, or someone to be there for safety reasons. In this setting, I am essentially expecting that they will honor the unspoken social contract of not killing me or overtaking me in any manor considering their size permits them to essentially do whatever they want to me, and I will always be physically powerless to stop it. The reasons I have chosen largely muscled men is to highly our difference is size, their power over me, and as a personal fetishization of a man that was once in my life, whose body I no longer have access to. This man I no longer have access to, I had tried many times to make photographs of him, but he insisted that I was "objectifying" him, and he was against it. He maintained that I could only have access to his body after being given permission, and that the photographs would detach him from our relationship. My relationship with this man is over, and I am still clinging to that body. This project is about the male/female power relationships, and is personal to the relationship I had with a man who resembled these giant, muscled, body builder type bodies. Considering I was never able to create an object from images of him, I am trying to use these other bodies as a stand in to create the images of him which I was forbidden to make. In that relationship, he was very dominant and I was unable to manipulate or control him in order to create a record that I had once had access to such a beautiful creature. It has been years since this relationship ended, and until now, I could not consider doing something like this, as the bodies reminded me of him and it was painful. At this point, I no longer feel that instant string, and I want to create an object which embodies what I remember of that body which I no longer have access to. My desire to create these images is not about a lingering desire to control the body that I lost, or a sexual desire for it, but is about the fear and safety. In the presence of that man, and in the context of that relationship, I was the most calm I'd ever been, and was free of anxiety because I felt totally safe from any other external threat. It is very anti feminist, because now I am looking for someone to surrender to, or to dominate my life in some way where I can rest my fears on them and take comfort in knowing that they will have the control over me, and I will not have to protect myself. In the context of how that relationship ended, it is ironic, because he left because I would not surrender, and I would not let him make choices for me, and now, that is all I really want, but, I only want it from him still.

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.

_________

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,