Monthly Archives: October 2022

Portraits Without Faces – Exhibition Budapest

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Laurie says:

The exhibition is at the Ph21 Gallery, and is part of the official program of the Hungarian Month of Photography. Portraits Without Faces is a curated international photography exhibition that runs from October 20 – November 12, 2022.

My photograph in the exhibit is Bubu’s shoes from my Women of Japan project. It’s an extract from the full portrait. (The full portrait is in the gallery that the link leads to.)

I’ve used the “Extracts” both in my book Familiar Men: A Book of Male Nudes and on my website, but this is the first one I’ve submitted to an exhibition.

The opening (zoom and live) was on the 22nd. Zsolt Bátori, the director of the gallery, commented that the thing that particularly interested him about the photograph were the complex shadows. Obviously my obsession with shadows isn’t new, but since I compose mostly in the camera and fairly intuitively, I hadn’t really noticed it consciously.

Portraiture emerged as one of the most prominent genres of depictive media early in the history of the visual arts; tacit or explicit rules, conventions and cultural expectations have always influenced the ways in which artists approached the genre. Photography is no exception. Numerous different and characteristic styles of portraiture emerged throughout the history of the medium. We usually assume that faces are necessary components of portraiture; we may, however, learn just as much about the character, the personality of a person by looking at images that depict other parts of their bodies, show us the objects or places associated with them. Not focusing on the face may open up a new dimension of interpretation. Our Portraits Without Faces exhibition is dedicated to this challenging divergence from the more conventional approaches to the genre. – PH21

Since most of my portraits included the body (many of them are nudes), this is familiar territory for me and I was delighted to have the opportunity to submit an “Extract” and to have it in the exhibition.

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Art for the Iranian Freedom Protests

Laurie says:

Jalz’s campaigning image, which combines an image of the Azadi (Freedom) tower with Matisse’s dancers and the ‘women, life, freedom’ protest slogan. Photograph: Jalz via The Guardian.

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I was very impressed with the protest art that is coming out of Iran and, of course, with the power of the protest movement in the face of the intense danger the protesters face. Given the risks and the punishments, which include death, the level of protest and the extent is amazing. And demonstrators of all ages and a respectable number of men.

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Mahdieh Farhadkiaei’s playing card design. Photograph: Mahdieh Farhadkiaei. Photo via the Guardian
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As the protests in Iran continue, Iranian artists are using their art to support the uprising and express their emotions during this momentous time. Their artwork calls for women’s rights and equality for all.

Using existing symbols of protest and freedom, these artists have carefully crafted artwork that is designed to bring awareness to what is happening in Iran and to reinforce the idea that women’s power cannot be taken away.

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Sahar Ghorishi draws attention to the centrality of women to the movement. Photograph: Sahar Ghorishi. Photo via the Guardian

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Many of the art pieces focus on themes of freedom and solidarity, and include the slogan “Women, Life, Freedom” which comes from the Kurdish movement for women’s rights and self-determination.

Others have illustrated the movement of fearless women cutting their hair off and burning their headscarves in mourning and in solidarity.

Quotes are from the Feminist Giant website.

The protest simultaneously make me happy and make me weep.

Check out the whole article.

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