NI AQUÍ, NI ALLÁ

insaniyat:

timelightbox:

Fantasy No. 1,2004. Jen Davis

Jen Davis looks to self-portraiture as a way to deal with her insecurities about her body image. See the stunning work accompanied with an essay by Hannah Frieser here on Flak Photo.

“The fact that these images are self-portraits alters the way they should be understood. Davis is not being watched and judged by these images, and instead is shaping each scenario both as the author and the subject. While she has little control on how society sees her in daily life, she has unlimited control of how she decides to photograph and present herself. It is her active choice to use a frank and self-inquisitive style in photography to examine concepts of beauty, desire, and body image. “Photography is the medium that I use to tell my story through life,” Davis writes in her artist statement. It is “an outlet for revealing my thoughts and opinions about the society in which we live. A society that dictates beauty based on one’s physical appearance.”

(via guerrillamamamedicine)

derica:

Dean by Lola Flash from the [sur]passing series (2003)

“[sur]passing is […] a series of larger than life size color portraits that probe the impact skin pigmentation plays on black identity and consciousness. Primarily due to the melanin count of their skin, light and dark-skinned blacks opportunities can differ enormously ranging from overt favoritism to extreme alienation. Kobena Mercer coins this process as a “pigmentocracy” - based on skin-tone. This scandalous and often heart wrenching story line dates back to colonial America and it clearly perseveres today.

In [sur]passing the models are shot with a large format camera from towering urban vantage points, highlighting the re-generation of a new inner-city culture, they become divine, larger than the purposely out of focus buildings of the London, New York and South African skylines, in contrast to the sharp, crisp rendering of each subject. The subjects assertively return the gaze, without being confrontational and by hanging the four-foot by five-foot photographs above eye level, the viewer has no choice but to “look up” to these young people posed as if characters from a modern Shakespeare melodrama.

So, as the title [sur]passing suggests, these portraits represent a “new generation” - one that is above and beyond “passing”. We represent a fresh pride and strength; where ambiguity and blurred borders create an individuality that elevates consciousness and advances a plethora of complex and positive imagery of [black] people in the Diaspora and all over the world.” - text from artist’s statement

lolaaaa

(Source: yagazieemezi)