At some point in each of our childhoods, we have been told by someone of authority to “never judge a book by its cover.” We have been taught that judging someone by how they look is shallow. But still we all do it, and, even more so, we style ourselves in a way in which we want others to see and judge us. Everyone is a performer of gender because our gender identity is always dependent on how others see us. As westerners, we are trained to know the heteronormative standards therefore making clothing choices an inward and outward performance. Clothes can permit or impede us from envisioning the body as seen by others, and culture and social norms are two of the most influential factors.
Fashion models occupy the central place in the reproduction of contemporary beauty culture. This industry is based upon the physical stereotyping of feminine and masculine beauty. When the models walk on the catwalk, their body movements have been rehearsed to produce the desired gender performance. Female models move their hips from side to side to accentuate their waistline while taking long steps and placing one foot in front of the other. Male models also take long steps, but their arms and legs move in a parallel fashion meant to accentuate their shoulders (strength) rather than their hips (sexuality). Corporeal technique is now gendered- establishing an asymmetrical femininity and a symmetrical masculinity, which further promotes different readings of the meanings of the body.
As an artist I want to explore this relationship between the biology of the body and the performance that each individual portrays in order to produce a coherent gender and be able to produce an image that would be taken seriously by others. What extremes do people go to produce that gender? And how does that relationship between body and performance change for them?
Being an electronic media artist most of my work is created mainly through the combined mediums of digital video and digital and silver-gelatin photography. Also as an artist, I want to explore the differences between time-based media and still images.
