A recent shoot of a particular kind with a good friend has lead to a different take on the uncanny. I was tasked by a friend to photograph him in various sexual fetish outfits, including leather and rubber clothes and masks, the image below shows him wearing one such mask along with a harness in a strong but also defensive pose.
This was not my first shoot if this kind, having previously created images for an independent leather worker in specialized in fetish "pup" masks. However with Freuds "Uncanny" on my mind, I began to look at this attire in another manner. In the Silent Hill 2 making of documentary (Beuglet 2001) the artists discuss how they would take inspiration from people around them to create monsters, in one case, the obscured view of a person in a hoodie lead to the creation of a monster than had odd movements, as if covered in a straight jacket. It seems to me that the clothing was obscuring the humanity of the wearer, and created a new being, a double, and fetish clothes and masks were doing the same for their wearers. My friend became as different, more confident person when dressed in different clothes. Relaying this discovery back to my peers and tutor during a seminar, it was suggested I looked at the work of Robert Maplethorpe, a photographer who during the 70's explored through his work S&M and fetish.
Quote froms "Robert Maplethorpe: Look at the pictures" (2016), an HBO documentary (that was also ran on Channel 4 in the UK) documented Maplethorpes work and personal life.
"There was a feeling I could get through looking at pornographic imagery, and I thought if I could somehow retain that feeling, you know, it was like, maybe it was the forbidden because I was young, you know. That if I could get that across and make an art statement, make it, do it in a way that just kind of, like, reached a certain kind of perfection, that I would be doing something something that was uniquely my own" Mapplethorpe is not simply referring to being aroused here, his use of the word "Forbidden" is quite telling to me, in that this is someone who is trying to explore something that others may feel should be hidden away, or that they do not want to see. Mapplethorpe is clearly concerned with creating work that is "uniquely" his own, and taken that witch is tabboo and presenting it for all to see if his way of separating himself from the crowd. He did indeed create work like nothing else before it.
"The whole point of being an artist or making a statement is to learn about yourself." As the old saying goes "Know Thy Self", Maplethorpe used his photography to know himself. Even putting himself into his work and becoming that witch he depicted.
Robert Maplethorpes self portrait, part of the X Portfolio. This is an incredibly striking, and to some, repulsive image. This image is part of X portfolio that caused great controversy with its exhibition in 1988. The photograph itself comes from a 3 year period when Maplethorpe was exploring S&M sex. The format of the photograph, square black and white, fits perfectly into his portfolio and is also par for the course of the time period, unlike the subject matter. This is an explicit self portrait of Maplethorpe in an uncomprimising yet powerfull pose, exposing himself and the fact that the whip is indeed from inside him. The whip, combined with his arched back, gives him the impression of being animilistic, or even demonic.
Ken Moody and Robert Sherman
This photograph was one of the first of Mapplethorpe's images I had ever come across. I found it to be a striking image, due mainly to its clear and simple concept leading to an image that is both powerful and beautiful. As a studio portrait the lighting is soft and aesthetically pleasing, working to reveal the tone and form of the subjects and play them off against each other, while the posing brings them so close they could almost be one subject rather than two, playing of the idea of duality, connected as one human, separated by skin color. This photograph stands in great contrast as a clean cut and almost universally unoffensive photo, against the two other images I have used in this post, both of witch launch an offense on the audience with strong pornographic imagery and harsh lighting, though just as beautiful to my eye.
The final image (below) demonstrates another kind of duality, dominance and submission, between the two subjects. The right hand gentleman hangs chained and tied, unable to move, while the other stands comfortably and casual with a cigarette in the hand and firmly grasping his counterpart in the other. Both men look directly at the audience with confidence in there place, and then the true nature of the image is revealed as the photograph dominates its submissive audience with its confrontational nature. We often talk about tension between subjects within a photograph, but Maplethorpe imbues his imagery with a tension between it and the viewer.
Beuglet, N. 2001, Silent Hill 2 Making of, Fun TV.
Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato. 2016. Robert Maplethorpe: Look at the Pictures. HBO Documentary Films.
Tate. (2019). Robert Mapplethorpe: Self Portraiture: Identity and Mortality | Tate. [online] Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/artist-rooms/learning/resources/robert-mapplethorpe-broken/robert-mapplethorpe-self-portraiture [Accessed 8 Mar. 2019].
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