Fearless

The nude figure is an ancient artistic tradition that expresses the ideals of beauty and fertility. In this series I explore the female nude figure outside the studio.

Nude female figures can be found represented in art as early as the last Stone Age period. Similar images which represent fertility deities, gods and goddesses in Babylonian and Ancient Egyptian art were precursors to the works of Western antiquity. Other notable traditions of artistic nude representations can be found in India and Japan: in particular, traditional Hindu temple sculptures and cave paintings – some very explicit – indicate the value of sexuality; revealing a culture where partial or complete nudity was acceptable in everyday life.

The nude figure was commonplace in Ancient Greek and Roman art. After a semi-dormant period in the Middle Ages, it returned to a central position in Western art during the Renaissance. Athletes, dancers, and warriors statically express human energy and life, while nudes express basic and complex emotions.

Nude photography is a genre of fine-art which depicts the human body with an emphasis on form, composition, emotional content and aesthetic qualities. The nude has been a prominent subject of photography since its invention and played an important role in establishing photography as a fine art medium.

Erotic interest, although often present, is secondary. It distinguishes art photography from both glamour and pornographic photography. The distinction is not always clear and photographers tend to characterise their own work subjectively, while viewers may have different impressions. The nude is a controversial and provocative subject across all artistic mediums, but more so within photography due to the inherent realism. The medium examines issues of representation and identity, sexuality and voyeurism – some nude photography deliberately blurs the boundaries between erotica and art.

In the context of the 21st century, it is difficult to make an artistic statement in the medium of nude photography, given the proliferation of pornographic imagery – which has tainted the artistic subject in the perception of most viewers, limiting the opportunities to exhibit or publish artistic nude images.

In presenting this series, I offer you an opportunity to contemplate and appreciate the juxtaposition between human and nature: soft flesh and harsh environment; life and still; white and black. The use of monochrome emphasises the nude shape and form, removing distracting elements to ensure that you focus on the beautiful body language. These photographs portray powerful and independent women who are depicted through fresh, inspiring and original artwork.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Viviane

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I let the cold porcelain bruise it’s way into my knees
Some days I sit there long enough that my skin looks like it could peel from my flesh
I feel each individual drop of water soak the skin on my back rising and falling down protruding vertebrae
It flows no different to the rapids of a river rolling across jagged stone
And quietly to myself I beg it to wash away the ache that seems it has so effortlessly weaved its way into every cell in my body
The way cancer would spread
Or weeds over grow a garden once cared for