Artist Statement
As an artist I am largely inspired by creating abstract photographs of the human form. The initial inspiration for my work comes from Andre Kertesz's photographic series Distortions photographed in 1933. Drawn to Kertész’s ability to abstract the female form in odd ways but still capture it with a curious beauty I began photographing the female form in efforts to achieve similar aesthetics (Dear Andre 2015). I look to distort the form by use of both external objects for the lens as well as post production processes within Adobe Photoshop. Using glass jars, mirrored mylar, cellophane, a clear plastic shower curtain, projections, and even simple lighting alteration, I create an image that questions what the public knows and often associates as the female figure.
I am attracted to the formal qualitites of artworks created by artists like Andre Kertesz, Harry Callahan, and Ralph Gisbon. I am interested in how the body interacts with shadows, light, and everyday objects just as they were, however, within regards to using my models merely as objects for my own gain, that is where my interests no longer align with these photographer's. Through my practice I look to create a relationship with the model and myself. Their comfortability within the shoot as well as after is important. The photographs created during the sessions I hope will provide them with a new perspective on their own body and allow them to see a new beauty within themselves. My work looks to bring a new perspective on an overly sexualized subject. The public should be exposed to more than the hour glass figure, images of idealized breasts, or a woman contorted in a sexual position in efforts to satisfy everyone but herself. My works aims to provide this new perspective, to allow the viewer to question what he or she may be seeing and really engage with its beauty and abstraction only later to see that they are looking at a female form. I aim for the viewer to see the woman no longer as an object for someone else's desire and pleasure, but as a person completely comfortable in their own body: comfortable enough that they are willing to expose themselves in my work and be confident in an image that shows their figure as anything but perfect.
Last updated June 2017