Nuala Sawyer: Abstraction of the Body
Nuala Sawyer: Abstraction of the Body
Abstracting the body is a fascinations that seems to lend itself well to photography. Through the lense of a camera it is so easy to test the limits of when we, as viewers, stop recognizing skin as skin, or which limb is which.
These images, taken by Nuala Sawyer, are a study in intimacy. How close can two bodies get? How close can we get as viewers to another person? She has broken these questions down into a few related series, each one moving closer and closer to the suject. Her images of couples embracing play poetically on the questions we all wonder when holding another person against our bare skin: where do I end, and you begin? In her series As Close As she comes so close to her subjects that as viewers, we become unsure of what we are even looking at, skin or something else. The clearest impulse is a desire to touch the surface, feel the texture of the image.
Nuala Sawyer is a young, contemporary photographer whom I've had the joy and privaledge of working with in college. I was lucky enough to watch the development of her current photographic interests (and even pose for some). As an artist myself, there is nothing I appreciate more than the presence of other talented and motivated people and I think Nuala is one to keep an eye out for.
Gertrude Kasebier: Breaking the Fourth Wall
Gertrude Kasebier: Breaking the Fourth Wall
This picture, taken by Gertrude Kasebier (1852-1935, American), has many of the elements I love about early photography. The low depth of field causes so much of the background to blur, leaving only the most important parts of the subject in sharp focus, as if one is remembering the scene from a dream. We know the subject sits on a couch, but we cannot see it clearly and are left imagining what it might look like, what its texture might be or its color. Even the hair at the top of her head has blurred out of focus and we are left only with her intent gaze.
Here is where the image gets most interesting, where it "breaks the fourth wall," so to speak. As a viewer, the subject is gazing right at us, directly into our eyes. She looks almost as if she is about to tell us something in confidence, as if she has stopped while pouring the milk in her tea and stolen herself to tell us some immense secret. She has a vulnerable look about her, head cocked slightly, shoulders bared, porcelain skin exposed. It is almost a desperate look.
Gertrude Kasebier was primarily a portrait photographer, most well-known for her images of Native Americans during the turn of the century. In 1899 Alfred Stieglitz declared her "the leading artistic portrait photographer of the day," (though later in her career they were at odds professionally). Additionally, throughout her career Kasebier was a strong advocate of women pursuing photography as a career and believed that is was a profession particularly well-suited to them.
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