Project_ISM - erotic art & public nudity

LEN

ARTISTS STATEMENT

I try not to “sum up how I feel about myself” because it tends to be a problematic objectification and limitation on what I might feel or do and create a kind of myth of myself which usually only functions as a neurosis. Part of my interest in shooting myself (and Clarissa) was to explore a relation to the objectification of the body of desire and of our relationship which expanded what I had previously accepted as mundane and to explore this through the ambiguous space between the intimate and the public. I had also previously found the camera and being photographed an uncomfortable experience but the shoot, which was (of course) erotically charged, allowed me to lose my apprehensions about the photography through my (and Clarissa’s) desire and pleasure. In a society where images of sex, of bodies, of beauty, and desire are primarily experienced through consumption it was particularly interesting that ISM allowed me to experience these things as a producer, what becomes in this shift is a new experience of the spectacle not as consumable commodity but as an articulation, like dance, of myself and my pleasure. ISM has given me a bit to chew over.

Media index

[other artist] 'bonnieclyde1'
20 Apr 08
Photos - Duet
ZIP - 50 images

[other artist] 'bonnieclyde2'
27 Apr 08
Photos - Duet
ZIP - 42 images

ARTIST PROFILE

birthplace: Blenheim, New Zealand
occupation: Freelance Writer/ Documentary Maker
age: 30
height: 5’10
relationship status: Pleasantly involved
starsign: Gemini
biggest passion in my life: Don’t know yet
I like to listen to: Free Jazz, Ornette Coleman in particular as well as Karaoke classics sung by less than accomplished
I like to watch: Container terminals and other large industrial operations
I like to smell: All parts of my ladyfriend
I like to taste: Ice cold Gin and Lemon – “strangled lemon”
I like to feel: Tangled limbs when I wake up in the middle of the night
favourite part of my body: My knitted brow and receding hairline
favourite part of someone else's body: That small area just below the armpit towards the back
Why i shot myself: I wanted to explore discomfort and alienation as an aphrodisiac but discovered that discomfort and alienation disappear completely in the shoot…I’ll have to keep trying.
who I'd most like to see shoot themselves: This girl I used to work with who was the most self-righteously conservative person I ever met
Most outrageous thing I have done: I don’t know if I’ve really done anything I would consider outrageous…
Bands I like: J.S. Bach
Books I like: Celine’s “Journey to the end of the night” (or maybe Luke Reinhardt’s “Dice Man” though its more a space than a book)
Films I like: Tarkovski’s “Stalker”
other random stuff: I like watching people on the street, especially if I haven’t slept, its early in the morning and they are just starting their everyday activities

this artist also contributed to beautiful agony
len is Agony contributor A1070

LEN