POLISHED
2014-2016
My initial inspiration for this project came to me after listening to an interview with atransgender person on the radio. This person pointed out when others inquire aboutbeing transgender the conversation centers on the genitals. The thought then came immediately to my mind, why not remove the genitals from the conversation. Of course, my mind began running with different thoughts answering how to do this. Finally, the answer became to remove the genitals from the body within a photograph. While removal of anything expected from an image raises concerns from the viewer, it is the actual meaning of the removal that is the subject of discussion. Genitals functionas a signifier of gender, among other things. There are some who would like to pointout, either you have one or the other which lays the foundation for a binary gender. This is wrong because we know that a person can not only land somewhere on a spectrum between two gender extremes based on appearance, one can also have a position between extremes on this spectrum based on biological variances. Then in Polished there is a third type of genital: the absent one that signifies no gender in the image. The site of disappearance then becomes a mystery that lays bare all the insidious stereotypes, curious desires and secure familiarities held by a society that isincreasingly protective of their defects.
Tired Model
Venus in Furs
Femme Noir
Lift Up Your Skirt
Odelisk
Bohus Blauhut
Blow Up