MAN & WOMAN .

A Comparison Series // 2019

My comparison series focuses on the intimate differences and similarities between the male and female body. Visually, I wanted to capture the curved lines that form shapes unique to each gender. In having these lines in the individual photographs, mounting them on the wall, I wanted the lines to lead the viewers eye throughout the composition as a whole. One photo helps lead you to the next, seamlessly. With having one subject matter, the human body, I was able to break that into two subject matters, being male and female. Furthermore, I got up close and personal, showing variations between male and female hands, torsos, facial structure, and clavicle area. The aim was to show just enough of the body for the viewer to interpret the rest of what is excluded in the frame on their own. By leaving some parts of the body out and by cropping in close, the images as a whole give a more innocent feeling, not sexualizing the body, but rather highlighting the differences in each body. 

In terms of subject matter, Robert Mapplethorpe also photographs nudes. Although his intent was sexual, I feel my work somewhat relates to his, in that it focusing on what makes the human body male or female. For example, his piece Man in Polyester Suit, 1980, shows a man dressed in a suit with his genitalia hanging out of his pants. This photograph doesn’t show the full form of the male body, but is clearly a male because of what Mapplethorpe chose to include in his photograph. For me, I chose what to exclude from my photograph, but still made it clear which form was male and female.