Lighter than [the print of] water
I asked my friend/model, Nadia, what makes her feel light. At RCA I was researching the concept of lightness and weightlessness, trying to see where the body can feel most at peace with itself away from the prying eye of society. Nadia told me she felt this lightness near water bodies. I completely related to her and started creating this set that would put both are bodies at east, as the maker (seeing) and as the model (being seen). I printed photographs I took in Alaska (2018) as backdrops and scattered glasses of water around the set. Fabrics also flowed like water and so did her body. The idea was to look at the body as a floating sculpture, drawing from greek sculptures and paintings. I also wanted to draw from my interest in the apparatus and the means of production, highlighting the lights, the backdrop and the stands. Its important to me to show that the studio itself is a safe space, containing elements of great importance, mainly the backdrop. The backdrop is to photography what the stage is to theatre, and I want to show where the sculpture stands and where the image is created. This is important because just like abstract ideas of body image and beauty ideals are fabricated in society (by people in positions of power), similarly the image is fabricated in the studio by two women now holding that same power, creating their own idea of body image and image making.