Seeing Me: Archetypes of Beauty
Artist Statement
I believe every photograph can open pathways for dialogue. A photograph is a conversation you and I might not otherwise have. It unfolds, vividly and dynamically through our common ground, and then blossoms with the fresh light of our uniqueness.
The current series of images I have created opens and challenges the existing dialogue surrounding beauty and the body. The challenge is two fold: first, there is the idea that there is one standard by which all female physical beauty can and should be measured. Through historical research of photographs and texts I found that many of our Western, and particularly, American, modern ideas and standards of beauty developed in part due to 19th century colonization and exploration by Europeans in savage lands such as Africa, Australia and Southeast Asia.
Second, there is the idea that physical beauty manifests only through the body or that beauty is only material in nature. Thus, in contrast, I wish to capture the intangible and transmutable aspects of beauty. The images in the series become objects of beauty in and of themselves. I have created work which is beautiful but that does not necessarily glorify physical beauty.
I utilize my body as the somatic material to explore this topic, but the purpose of each photograph is not to present a spectacle of beauty, the literal representation of a beautiful body. Rather, I explore the question of whether beauty is fixed to the physical body at all, and thus create a framework whereby beauty can be universally understood.
Seeing Me: Archetypes of Beauty
Artist Statement
I believe every photograph can open pathways for dialogue. A photograph is a conversation you and I might not otherwise have. It unfolds, vividly and dynamically through our common ground, and then blossoms with the fresh light of our uniqueness.
The current series of images I have created opens and challenges the existing dialogue surrounding beauty and the body. The challenge is two fold: first, there is the idea that there is one standard by which all female physical beauty can and should be measured. Through historical research of photographs and texts I found that many of our Western, and particularly, American, modern ideas and standards of beauty developed in part due to 19th century colonization and exploration by Europeans in savage lands such as Africa, Australia and Southeast Asia.
Second, there is the idea that physical beauty manifests only through the body or that beauty is only material in nature. Thus, in contrast, I wish to capture the intangible and transmutable aspects of beauty. The images in the series become objects of beauty in and of themselves. I have created work which is beautiful but that does not necessarily glorify physical beauty.
I utilize my body as the somatic material to explore this topic, but the purpose of each photograph is not to present a spectacle of beauty, the literal representation of a beautiful body. Rather, I explore the question of whether beauty is fixed to the physical body at all, and thus create a framework whereby beauty can be universally understood.