The Naked body in its barest form is something that when covered in varying materials can be tainted and viewed differently. Luce Irigaray states from a feminist perspective that womens bodies, are ‘Socially, they are ‘objects’ for and amongst men.’ (Irigaray, 2997, pg.2) This idea suggests the female form is something objectified purely on an image based value system by males. Irigang states that the matter of her beauty decides a woman’s value. Our presentation to the naked or partially clothed form was not something we wanted to be sexualized. The connotation and feminist themes, in which our piece evoked, were although not intentional, we were aware of their place in an all female performance. We know that if we were to have had a male performer it would have completely changed the meaning of the piece, it wouldn’t have been shaped by an equality framed by our gender and would have been much more sexually suggestive by the pairing of the female and male forms put together.
We in our process looked at adding something to varying forms of nudity, which would make it less sexual. We presented the body to a group of member of the public as a canvas, in which they could draw on the changes they felt would make our own forms better. The process of drawing on our flesh made presence of the nudity not crucial, as the changed drawn on became something imprinted on our egos and insecurities as much as on our skin. This plastic surgery based trial became a challenge to the participants and at times they stated they forgot we were in essence naked and viewed our bodies in a more clinical critical way.
Similarly in another experiment ‘The human plate’ We took a Japanese inspired tradition of Nyotaimori,’ Eating Sushi of a perfectly still, naked womens body’ otherwise known as human sushi’ (Bindel, 2010, pg.1) and placed innocence into the performance. Presented to small audience groups were three partially clothed- to fully naked performers, covered in sweets. After looking at forms and the principles between food and sexual fantasies being very much intertwined in the forms of, feederism and veroraphila, we decided the food placed on the body had to be something that had to have in its own right, non-sexual associations. The direct comparison of themes were highlighted when the naked body presented so explicitly, laying on the floor of a lit studio, and covered with traces of innocent which triggers uncomfortable themes of childhood and indulgence.
Credit Lauren 11/11/13
‘The idea of placing food on the naked body is a process that is seen through varying cultures in history.’ (Bindel, 2010, pg.2) Both processes were steering away from a sexual nature by tainting the body with textures and patterns traditionally viewed as non sexual and the audiences all stated how they felt sympathy for me as I was always the least clothed. It then swayed their participants, i.e. in the human plate when given the choice to take a sweet of us, almost all the audience members went to me as they felt they wanted to ‘give something back’ in return for the bravery they felt went with the presentation of being naked. Because of the aesthetics of the human plate we began to find it hard for the naked form not to be framed sexually, as people took sweets from my body with their mouths. This sensual act highlighted how even when trying to diminish the sexual frame that we felt limited our exposure it was impossible.
When viewing Beacroft work, such as ‘Vogue’ and the instillation piece placed on the opening in the window of the Louis Vuitton on the Champs- Elysees in Paris, I felt the objectification of the female body scream out of her work. By placing naked models on shelves in windows next to luxury goods, the idea of a women being a desirable object, a possession framed in the window of such establishment was inescapable. The nudity against the leather good not only highlights the principle of ‘sex sells’ but also seems to try and frame women in the sense of perfection against such intricately designed goods. It reinstates the idea of unattainability for the average onlooker with economics, and the design and manipulation of beauty seemed intertwined when placed together. The textures of flesh and leather echoed the idea of the liquid sweet substances such as cream and chocolate placed on our own skin. The bags themselves became ‘sex fueled’ due to what they were placed on and around.
Beecroft, Espace Louis Vuitton, 2006
Lauran Mulvey stated this as she states that females ‘With their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact.’ (Mulvey, 1975, pg.8) Therefore the act of removing clothing and makeup used to make one more sexually appealing, such as red lipstick and high heels still became erotic. Although we wanted to break down ourselves to its most bare and human, the act of removing clothes with people watching in it is unavoidably a ‘visual pleasure and narrative cinema.’ (Mulvey 1975, pg.7)
1. Irigaray, L (1997) From this sex Which is not one. Ithaca; University press
2. Bindel, J. (2010) ‘ Iam about to eat Sushi of a naked woman’s body’ The Guardian, 12th Feb, [Online] available from http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/feb/12/nyotaimori-eating-sushi-naked-woman accessed on the 7th of November
3. Mulvey, L (1975) Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. Screen 16/3 (Autum)