I have been writing poetry for some years. I enjoy playing with words and their importance, their weight, their power. Sometimes I like to incoporate text into my art work, even when I would not class it as poetry. I've previously explored the idea of text work holding it's own as a work of art, without relying on any visual imagery.
A couple of years back I was working with the theme of nudity in art and I didn't want to do the obvious thing of using images of naked bodies in a confrontational way. I wanted to do something a little more subtle and obscure. Something that the viewer might have to take a little while to understand.
After trying out a few things (like the image to the right where I have tried to use varying skin-like colours to pose my question) I tried something different. I made this piece, above, titled Photograph of a Naked Body. It is a piece of text work that describes in detail a photograph I took prior to making it. It is written on a piece of paper which is exactly as long as the model is tall. The photo is of a model sitting on a stool in a dark room. Due to the angle of the photograph and the minimal lighting state all you can see is the model's unclothed back as her head and limbs are shrouded in darkness. The aim is to never allow the viewer to see the actual photo - it is not possible to find it anywhere - and make the text on it's own strong enough to provide enough detail that they could use their imagination to view what the photo might look like in their heads. This bit of text is all they have to rely on, it is the only evidence of the photo they do not know exists. In this way the text becomes the photo without ever offering material images.
Comments