Explore my final project for Professor Ken Gonzales-Day's "Abject, Beauty, and Horror" course, a striking collection of six black and white images that intricately blend beauty with the abject. The nude female body, adorned in blood, becomes a canvas to both obscure and accentuate its curves and lines, establishing a captivating tension between attraction and repulsion.
Drawing inspiration from Robert Mapplethorpe, my photographs mirror his style, emphasizing form and utilizing deep tones for dramatic effect, while challenging conventional representations of the female form in art. By presenting vulnerability and power in tandem, I aim to subvert the traditional male gaze, reclaiming agency for the female subject.
Blood appears as both a life force and a warning sign in these images. It speaks to the profound rhythms of menstruation – a natural power that has been stigmatized and hidden from public view – while simultaneously evoking the haunting reality of violence against women that persists in our society. This duality creates an uncomfortable truth: the same society that shames women for their natural cycles often turns a blind eye to their bloodshed through violence.
Situated between disturbance and beauty, this series forces viewers to confront their own complicity in these contradictions. The images dare you to look away from what society often refuses to see: both the raw power of female biology and the brutal reality of gendered violence. Using the abject as a tool for confrontation, these photographs demand we question not just conventional beauty, but our collective tolerance for the suffering of women's bodies. They ask: when does blood make you uncomfortable, and why? What does that discomfort reveal about our culture's relationship with women's bodies, both in their natural state and as targets of violence?