The work titled “Undesires,” uses the language of film noir in a non-canonical form. The film noir style is reduced to its most basic element, the chiaroscuro, to highlight the subject matter of body image ideals. Skin folds are imbued with a different reading through the strong use of shadows. The intentional use of black and white imagery reduces the subject matter to its simplest texture. Striations become apparent and break with the topography of undulations and curves. An intense cropping pushes reality into abstraction revealing beautiful folds and structures, a sculpture if one might say.

The work is a pentaptych of photographs that portray the dramatic movement and dance of these sculptures. It creates beauty out of unwanted traits, while at the same time pays them tribute. It is but a single work in a larger oeuvre on body ideals and dysmorphia that constantly goes back and forth between the frustrating to the jocular, always injecting a clashing tension.

Undesires
gelatin silver print, 2014, 16″ x 64″ (pentaptych)