I’ve been working on another personal project, this time back in the studio. Personal projects give me the perfect opportunity to play around with lighting and generally experiment. My homage to the amazing Diego Velázquez, artist of the Rokeby Venus (also known as The Toilet of Venus), was inspired by my recent boudoir shoots and can be considered to promote body positivity. Completed between 1647 and 1651 and probably painted during the artist’s visit to Italy, the work depicts the goddess of love, Venus, in a sensual pose, lying on a bed and looking into a mirror held by the Roman god of physical love, her son Cupid. The painting is in the National Gallery, London.
Venus is usually painted in perfection, a stylized representation of a beautiful person. Velázquez however paints a real person. Unlike Velázquez, who in his time would have been excommunicated and banished for painting a nude, I have the freedom to do so (or at least photograph).
When recreating the image in the studio I realised that the reflection in the mirror is for the viewers’ benefit as the model can not see themselves in the mirror properly. Anyone could therefore be lying in this pose as Velázquez also blurred the reflection in the mirror. To me, this is ambiguous, asking the viewer to fill in the blanks, which I hope my photographs also ask of the viewer. For example, are my photographs objectifying or empowering? Also, if the little boy holding the mirror did not have wings (a representation of Cupid), would this not just be a painting of a nude? The wings change the context of the painting, again questioning the viewer.
In 1914 Mary Richardson, a suffragette, famously slashed the painting stating, “I have tried to destroy the picture of the most beautiful woman in mythological history as a protest against the Government for destroying Mrs Pankhurst, who is the most beautiful character in modern history. Justice is an element of beauty as much as colour and outline on canvas”. With this in mind, it is eye-opening to think how the art of any form can provoke such a response.
For further examples of my personal projects please check out my website, and for any queries do contact me.
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Bob Foyers
Photographer, Foyers Photography
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