Vessels - Looking at Yourself

That which makes change inevitable. In Vessels from All Things Are Always Changing

We had not posed before the camera since the mid-eighties, so we were surprise by changes wrought over 20 years. Children, surgery and free radicals took their toll. Our thoughts about age and beauty bloomed when we photographed other models who had lost breasts or other womanly organs and had gained scars and creases along the way. This is how we began our investigation regarding the representation of women, beauty and change over time.

Truly, looking at yourself separates you from yourself...a passage of the soul....

In The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony, Roberto Calasso discusses Kore. The young woman, sees herself reflected in the eyes of her observer...

"the meaning is twofold: she discovers reflection, duplication, the moment in which consciousness observes itself and paradoxically, that duplicated gaze is also the ultimate of fisions, it can't be divided anymore....it was in the drama of reflection that detaches itself from the body, from every object, from the earth even--to then be reunited with it's origin."

Some resources, others involved in this investigation:

Linda Nochlin Representing Women

Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards Feminista

Anne Ream Article ...Barb....you're paying attention

Self Magazine

Susan Suleiman The Female Body in Western Culture

Linda Nead The Female Nude