tomsmith65: via www.foxharvard.1x.com Minnie Copyright © 2009, Fox Harvard, All Rights Reserved Another for the show “La theorie du sable et de la vague”, at the Theatre de la Tempete, Paris, France. The principal reason I find this piece conceptually successful is because even though its intent was blatantly provocative, after careful observation the viewer should notice it doesn’t necessarily come off as obscene as simple pornography does; although while explicit, this piece simply is not “pornography”. By definition, pornography is created with the intention of stimulating the viewer sexually; not mentally or emotionally. On the contrary, upon examination one could almost say they feel more empathy for the model, rather than just having a knee-jerk reaction to either stimulation or revulsion towards such a graphic display. Compositionally speaking, the attempt with “Minnie” was to draw an equal sign between the face of the subject and her sex, while simultaneously clashing the innocent imagery of adolescence with the harsh reality of adult sexual appetites (the costume alone almost seemed designed to do both itself). The effect is twofold: both ends of the spectrum are amplified, just as they are when any two opposites are forced together, and upon continued analysis of the piece the viewer then begins to see that the subject’s identity is not equal to her sexuality, but rather an integral element of it (and vice versa). Her message to the viewer then becomes one of acceptance of the parts that we hide not only from others, but from ourselves as well. Upon an interview for Barrymag UK, the model stated the reason she bought the costume & came up with the idea for the shoot was because: “I wanted to make something profound and thought-provoking to destroy the myth that all women involved in this are victims, and to show not all men involved in the same are exploiting them. To call them ‘victims’ is seriously trivializing those who actually have been victimized. Any woman who chooses and enjoys taking part in this sort of experimentation is actually empowering herself and helping to show that women are not weaker. Nor are they in need of being told by men that they’re ‘trying to protect them’ by stating it’s wrong for them to be involved in this. That’s nothing more than someone’s machismo control issue disguised as caring; it’s also an obvious sign of someone who’s not respectful of another’s adult’s free-will. Every decision in life holds the possibility of consequence but we really need to ask ourselves what sort of person actually wants to verbalize something that makes it impossible for a woman (or anyone) to feel comfortable expressing their sexuality without fear of spiteful or hateful reprisal… there’s something seriously wrong with that. “I think if more people got a grip on the fact that their sexuality is just as natural as eating and breathing, not only would they be less suppressed but there’d be a lot less judgement and negative stigma towards it. Of course, some of society lives with that realization already, but too many people are still way too backwards. Like in Europe, where these were originally shown as part of a slide-show for a play, no one seemed to raise an eyebrow, but when it was shown in the States, people exploded. “They called me everything from a whore to a defenseless victim, the photographer was called a slave-driver; it was amazing just reading how ignorant people could be. It’s funny to watch someone try to tell you how ashamed you should be of something, but in reality you’re actually embarrassed for them the whole time their mouth is running. The sad thing is they don’t even realize what they’re saying isn’t even their own opinion; it’s just something they were told to believe by someone else. If they actually had experimented with it then maybe they could call it their own opinion, but they can’t. They have no idea who they really are or could be sexually, and they’re absolutely scared to death of finding out. “It’s a conundrum creating something like this in order to make a bold statement and just wanting it to be accepted with an open mind… but then realizing the piece wouldn’t have been anywhere near as powerful without some controversy almost makes you glad ignorance still exists, in order to address it. Would anyone need or even want to make pieces like this if they were actually accepted by everyone? They probably wouldn’t exist, to be honest. Which is an even bigger irony for those who are so against it… they’re simply not smart enough to understand that their outrage only justifies the need for creating these. If they just accepted them without argument like everyone else, works like this would probably just go away… or at the very least, be peacefully accepted like so much else.”

tomsmith65:

via www.foxharvard.1x.com

Minnie Copyright © 2009, Fox Harvard, All Rights Reserved



Another for the show “La theorie du sable et de la vague”, at the Theatre de la Tempete, Paris, France.

The principal reason I find this piece conceptually successful is because even though its intent was blatantly provocative, after careful observation the viewer should notice it doesn’t necessarily come off as obscene as simple pornography does; although while explicit, this piece simply is not “pornography”. By definition, pornography is created with the intention of stimulating the viewer sexually; not mentally or emotionally. On the contrary, upon examination one could almost say they feel more empathy for the model, rather than just having a knee-jerk reaction to either stimulation or revulsion towards such a graphic display.

Compositionally speaking, the attempt with “Minnie” was to draw an equal sign between the face of the subject and her sex, while simultaneously clashing the innocent imagery of adolescence with the harsh reality of adult sexual appetites (the costume alone almost seemed designed to do both itself). The effect is twofold: both ends of the spectrum are amplified, just as they are when any two opposites are forced together, and upon continued analysis of the piece the viewer then begins to see that the subject’s identity is not equal to her sexuality, but rather an integral element of it (and vice versa). Her message to the viewer then becomes one of acceptance of the parts that we hide not only from others, but from ourselves as well.

Upon an interview for Barrymag UK, the model stated the reason she bought the costume & came up with the idea for the shoot was because: “I wanted to make something profound and thought-provoking to destroy the myth that all women involved in this are victims, and to show not all men involved in the same are exploiting them. To call them ‘victims’ is seriously trivializing those who actually have been victimized. Any woman who chooses and enjoys taking part in this sort of experimentation is actually empowering herself and helping to show that women are not weaker. Nor are they in need of being told by men that they’re ‘trying to protect them’ by stating it’s wrong for them to be involved in this. That’s nothing more than someone’s machismo control issue disguised as caring; it’s also an obvious sign of someone who’s not respectful of another’s adult’s free-will. Every decision in life holds the possibility of consequence but we really need to ask ourselves what sort of person actually wants to verbalize something that makes it impossible for a woman (or anyone) to feel comfortable expressing their sexuality without fear of spiteful or hateful reprisal… there’s something seriously wrong with that.

“I think if more people got a grip on the fact that their sexuality is just as natural as eating and breathing, not only would they be less suppressed but there’d be a lot less judgement and negative stigma towards it. Of course, some of society lives with that realization already, but too many people are still way too backwards. Like in Europe, where these were originally shown as part of a slide-show for a play, no one seemed to raise an eyebrow, but when it was shown in the States, people exploded.

“They called me everything from a whore to a defenseless victim, the photographer was called a slave-driver; it was amazing just reading how ignorant people could be. It’s funny to watch someone try to tell you how ashamed you should be of something, but in reality you’re actually embarrassed for them the whole time their mouth is running. The sad thing is they don’t even realize what they’re saying isn’t even their own opinion; it’s just something they were told to believe by someone else. If they actually had experimented with it then maybe they could call it their own opinion, but they can’t. They have no idea who they really are or could be sexually, and they’re absolutely scared to death of finding out.

“It’s a conundrum creating something like this in order to make a bold statement and just wanting it to be accepted with an open mind… but then realizing the piece wouldn’t have been anywhere near as powerful without some controversy almost makes you glad ignorance still exists, in order to address it. Would anyone need or even want to make pieces like this if they were actually accepted by everyone? They probably wouldn’t exist, to be honest. Which is an even bigger irony for those who are so against it… they’re simply not smart enough to understand that their outrage only justifies the need for creating these. If they just accepted them without argument like everyone else, works like this would probably just go away… or at the very least, be peacefully accepted like so much else.”