Her

Comment

Comment by Resident Curator on December 2, 2014 at 5:17pm

Curator’s Comments:

 

I perceive an overt, potent female sexuality in Her.  The deep saturated color of the flower (a succulent, no less) insinuates genitalia as petals; moss as hair.  The black background contrasting the pale flesh also incurs a dramatic response. I find it interesting that the extended hand of the figure, reaching towards the dewy-wet plant shows nail polished fingers.  There’s a questionable artificiality to the inclusion of the cosmetic, though the color echoes the rosy red of the exotic flower (a Bromeliad?).  The single ring on the left hand could also intimate marriage, though it seems slightly less conspicuous; possibly more of an extension of feminine adornment.   The companion piece Him is no less subtle in its obviously phallic depiction, though the obscuring of the figure adds some mystery.  The viewer could perhaps glean some humor from the straightforward and central arc of the fertile green tree shoot, but there is a visual primacy in the juxtaposition of the figure and plantings in these photographs. The idea of sexual propagation is reduced to an economic and actually quite beautiful human planting.