Body Honesty
How this era’s art is debunking body shamers.
How this era’s art is debunking body shamers.
With armpit hair censored on Instagram, Gigi Hadid called ‘too big’ for modeling and period adds being banned for ‘inappropriateness’, it appears that for us women, there is no place left for anything less than ‘perfection’ in this society. Being aware that beauty ideals go back to an untraceable time, it is safe to say we have reached the limit. As we are the Selfie obsessed, social media horny generation with a strong opinion and a reasonably big ego, it seems the fingers are all pointed at us; and so we left ourselves with a mess, where deviations of what we consider perfect are selectively disregarded and 80 per cent of the female population feels awkward about themselves. Isn’t it time for us to fight this weird situation we have found ourselves in before we lose the idea of what the reality actually is? Being bored of the traditional female body parading throughout the art scene, these next artists challenge the idea of beauty and provide us with a brutally honest representation of female diversity.
Exploring the struggles of ‘black’ hair through pastel coloured still lives, Nayeka Brown might be the perfect badass example of self-acceptance. Confronting us with the reality of our definition of beauty in the context of a black woman, the photographer dares to tackle the taboos surrounding body image, race and tradition in an undeviating way.
If there is one thing to admire this Finnish artist for, it’s her courage to approach her body in a humorous way. Shoving a broom under her boobs, putting on a hat with ‘bread hair’ while standing on a treadmill, nothing is too absurd for this upcoming photographer. However while she’s having the time of her life making these shots, she’s simultaneously teaching the world a lesson about body shaming, taking a piss with beauty ideals and questioning the fact that abnormal may be normal.
Although still finishing up her studies, illustrator Layla May Ehsan is already getting her voice out there, and I can assure you it is a powerful one. Highlighting a painful and these days rather shaming thing that goes on inside women’s bodies, Layla’s period drawings are aimed to start a conversation, pointing out the ridiculousness of the lengths the world goes to in order to avoid the ‘gross’ subject of menstruation.
As tolerance is hiding behind a world full of stereotypes and discriminating thoughts, there is a powerful counter reaction going on to actively help our society towards acceptance. From indie films dedicated to a love for chubbiness to a photography movement capturing body reality of our diverse society, it seems we are finally ready to be honest about our bodies and if body honesty is the theme of this era’s art, than at least there is something we are doing right.
The story of painting rascal Ide André
“Everyone can say what they want, but I do hope that my work comes across as fresh, dirty, firm, crispy, dirty, clean, fast, strong, smooth, messy, sleek and of course cocky.”
“Everyone can say what they want, but I do hope that my work comes across as fresh, dirty, firm, crispy, dirty, clean, fast, strong, smooth, messy, sleek and of course cocky.” – Ide André
Somewhere between the concrete walls of the Institute of the Arts in Arnhem, a talented kid with a big mouth and an urge to paint was bound to challenge perspectives. Years later, he found himself rumbling in his atelier, experimenting with ideas and creating things out of chaotic settings. With a determined attitude and an open mind, he managed to turn everything into a form of art. Some people liked his work, some people questioned it; either way it got attention. Right now, he’s working on several projects all exploring the relationship between painting and everyday life with the carpet (yes, the carpet, I told you this guy can turn anything into art piece) as main subject. His work is a reflection of his personality: bold, impulsive, fun and with a fair amount of attitude. He however likes to use a couple more words when describing his own work. This is the short version of his biography, the end of my version of his story. If you prefer a more authentic one here’s the story in the artist’s words:
I once saw a show of Elsworth Kelly when I was a child. The enormous series of two-toned monograms clearly made a big impression on me. I remember staring with my mouth wide open at the big coloured surfaces. I’m not that much of a romantic soul to say that it all started right there, but it did leave an impact on me. I actually developed my love for painting at ArtEZ. I started out working with installation art and printing techniques, but I was always drawn to the work of contemporary, mostly abstract painters, until I actually became fascinated about my fascination with abstract painting. Because, let’s be honest here, sometimes it seems quite bizarre to worry about some splotches of colour on a canvas. Even though painting has been declared dead many times over, loads of people carry on working with this medium no matter what; from a headstrong choice, commitment or just because they can’t help it. I am clearly one of those people, and that fact still manages to fascinate me.
At ArtEZ you talk so much to your fellow students, teachers and guest artists, little by little you kind of construct your own vision on art. And that’s a good thing! All this time you get bombarded with numerous opinions, ideas and assignments, some of them (as stubborn as we are) that seemed useless to us and weren’t easily put on top of our to-do-list. Until there is that moment you realise that you have to filter everything and twist and turn it in your own way. Then there is that epiphany moment. That moment you realize you can actually make everything your own. I think that’s the most important thing I’ve learned during University: giving everything your own twist and constantly questioning what you are doing, subsequently always struggling a little bit but still continue until the end. Like an everyday routine.
I’m not going to enounce myself about the definition of art. That would be the same thing as wondering what great music is or good food. I think it’s something everyone can determine for themselves. I do think it is interesting to ask myself how an artwork can function and what it can evoke. There is this exciting paradoxical element within art. On the one hand we pretend that art should be something that belongs to humanity, something that is from the people, for the people; on the other hand is the fact that art has its own world, its own domain where it can live safely, on its own autonomous rules, and it doesn’t have to be bothered by this cold, always speculating world. There are pros and cons about both sides, and I think it’s impossible to make a work of art that solely belongs to one of the two worlds. As Jan Verwoert, Dutch art critic and writer, words it: “Art as a cellophane curtain”. Without getting too much into it (otherwise I’m afraid I’ll never finish this story), there is this see-through curtain between the two worlds. The artist is looking at the outside world through his work, and the outside world looks at the artist through his work. That’s how I see art and how I approach it.
My work often comes about in various places, with my studio as a start and end point. I buy my fabric at the market and from there the creative process really starts. I print on them, light fireworks on them with my friends, or sew them together with my mother at the kitchen table in my childhood home. I try to treat all these actions as painting related actions. Like a runner that goes to the running track on his bike; we could ask ourselves: is he already exercising running? On an average atelier day, I toil with my stressed and unstressed fabrics, chaotically studded around the room. Usually I don’t have a fixed plan. My process is semi-impulsive and comes from an urge. Often this causes little and mostly unforeseen mistakes, these ‘mistakes’ often prove to be an asset in the next project.
As for the future, (Lucky for me) I don’t own a crystal ball, so I wouldn’t dare to make predictions. And quite frankly I wouldn’t want to know. Young collectives, initiatives and galleries keep popping up and I think we continue to grow more and more self-sufficient. Of course there is that itch of our generation to always learn more, do more; an urge that I believe will never disappear, also not within myself. I will stubbornly continue to work on the things I believe in. Not because it offers me some sort of security (most of the time it’s the opposite) but because I just can’t help it.
Alec Soth – Gathered Leaves
The Alec Soth retrospective at The Science Museum contains works from four of his most well known projects: Sleeping By The Mississippi (2004), Niagara (2006), Broken Manual (2010), and Songbook (2014).
2008_02zL0189, from Broken Manual © Alec Soth
The Alec Soth retrospective at The Science Museum contains works from four of his most well known projects: Sleeping By The Mississippi (2004), Niagara (2006), Broken Manual (2010), and Songbook (2014).
As well as being the first major exhibition of his work in the country, this is also the first ever UK exhibition of Songbook.
The first room contains his first and perhaps most well known collection, Sleeping By The Mississippi. A series taken all along the iconic American river, documenting the daily lives of the locals who live inside its wide basin.
Hailing from Minnesota, Soth has an intimate knowledge of this river that runs through his hometown of Minneapolis. In this way this series is partially self-referential, as he is documenting a society of which he is an inhabitant. This familiarity is evident through the photographs, and such closeness would be unimaginable were he not a part of what he documents.
His work shows us beauty in the most unexpected of places, and this series is especially good at showing to us that which we would have never found for ourselves. What is ordinary to these people is otherworldly and exotic for those who live away from it.
The simple lives of people living outside of traditional society are beautiful in their approach to nature, and in their honest simplicity. They live with the existing landscapes, rather than upon them. Their houses are simple and inoffensive to the nature that surrounds them, hermitlike and nomadic.
Two Towels, 2004, from Niagara © Alec Soth
The works in this series (and indeed most of his oeuvre) instill an unusual air of calm upon the viewer. There is an intense stillness in these works that seems at once both serene and frozen. The expressions and poses seem at first calm, but upon further discovery seem pained, even forced. This is something that Soth himself embraces, as the camera set-up and way he photographs takes longer than most contemporary cameras. This removes the initial pose that is automatic from the subject, and the one captured is of bewilderment and frustration at the process. In this way he is able to take un-posed photographs of posing subjects, and through this he shows us the real person beneath their instinctual façade.
These people have sought out freedom, and somewhere for them to disappear. They are contented with their lot, and all they seek is escape. Soth permeates this community with ease, and is accepted by the residents. Their need to disappear is lifted slightly, and he allows us to peek beneath. In a sense we are voyeurs when we look upon a Soth photograph, for they were always only posing for Soth, and never for us.
“When I think of the Falls as a metaphor, I think of a kind of intensified sexuality and unsustainable desire”
Soth’s love of the work of Diane Arbus is evident throughout, and the methodology of documenting those ‘on the fringes of society’ permeates the work of both artists. One obvious difference is that Soth is primarily a ‘book-photographer’, but in this show he proves that his work is as at home on a gallery wall as it is in a book.
Niagara is the series that fills room two, and in many ways feels like an extension of the Mississippi project. The work is presented slightly larger, but the themes of stillness, calm, and loneliness all appear throughout. Niagara itself appears still and calm, like a blanket of crushed blue velvet.
Two Towels, 2004 is a photograph of a pair of towels manipulated in such a way that they appear as if two swans are kissing, forming a heart in the negative space between them. Tragically comic, this arrangement is clearly shot in some budget motel, the type which is often stayed in alone, or with a guest who is paid by the hour.
The balance between tragedy and comedy is evident in all of his series; in Sleeping By The Mississippi a woman sits amid garish Valentine’s decorations, drinking alone. In Niagara a mirrorball is strung from a tree in a forest, the photograph hung on the adjacent wall is of a shirtless man with a swastika tattoo. This man is one of the subjects interviewed in the documentary Somewhere To Disappear, and despite his fascist opinions, seems timid and delicate.
These people have actively sought a life that is away from the conventional, living entirely as they please. They appear to crave their own freedom, and yet allow (and indeed enjoy) the attention that they receive from Soth and his camera. Isolation can bring freedom, but it can also create intense loneliness. This loneliness is visible in his subjects, through the look upon their faces to their willingness to welcome Soth into their insular existence. These people are escaping ‘traditional’ life for a reason unknown to us as the viewer, and in this they make us fantasize about our own escape, if but for a fleeting second. This is something that pervades most of his work, and in every series in this show there are elements of “American individualism and the urge to be united.”
Crazy Legs Saloon. Watertown, New York, from Songbook © Alec Soth
As a species we crave both freedom and unity, but sometimes we forego one to fully experience the other. Soth has found such people, and their desire to be one with humanity is reminded to them through his intervention. There is a certain delicateness in his work that is suggested by the simple connection between two people who just happen to be together. Sometimes it is nothing more than being in the same place as another person, but in the moment that two people inhabit the same space, they are connected. This connection between Soth and his subjects is profound in its simplicity. They are connected, but only for a short while, and then they are both alone again.
A collection of letters between some of the people he photographs is displayed, and this offers us further insight into these people’s lives. One such letter closes with “Take care and drop dead”.
The brilliant documentary Somewhere To Disappear is shown in its entirety at the exit to the show, and is an exquisite look at some of these subjects. It is quite long (57 minutes or so) and can be viewed at the below here if time is a concern.
Page No 2: “If there was a nice apartment and I have a descent job and you felt happy and thought there could be a nice history together, would you come home?”
Carnival Glass at Block 336
This December, artist-run gallery Block 336 is offering you a different view on art history, altering and mixing different cultures, times and movements with exhibition ‘Carnival Glass’.
Aiming to provide a platform for both established and emerging artists with an emphasis on collaboration, freedom and experiment, the project space combines the talent of seven artists in the UK art scene in one exhibition. Lewis Betts, Freya Douglas-Morris, Grant Foster, Brian Griffiths, Archie Franks, Lydia Hardwick, and Lana Locke will be taking on the challenge of combining numerous techniques such as sculpturing and painting to create beautiful entities, simultaneously exploring chaos to reach innovation. Art history connoisseurs will recognize references to Gothic, Baroque and Rococo aspects, while culture enthusiasts will be able to deepen themselves in the subtly integrated carnivalesque elements. Londoner and award wining contemporary painter Archie Franks is both displaying his artwork and curating the event.
As if there isn’t enough for your eyes the focus on, you can let them wander around in the remaining rooms of the building as there will be another exhibition going on at the same time. In his first solo show HOMEWARE_update, Corey Bartle-Sanderson displays the experimentation of combining objects that aren’t usually put together.
Both exhibitions will have their private view on the 4th of December.