18 images Created 23 Jan 2024
The Selfless Beauty of Perfection
I have always been fascinated with mannequins. Why mannequins? Because they are perfect representations of human beings: perfect faces, perfect proportions, perfect skin, perfect beauty–and nobody looks like them. Nobody. And they are everywhere, surrounding us with their unattainable flawlessness, a constant reminder of how we do not measure up–that we will never, ever be like them. And yet, knowing this, we still want to have what they have.
In THE SELFLESS BEAUTY OF PERFECTION, I explore that juncture where the artificial and the real coexist, the place where what we think we want and who we really are, live side by side–and even thrive. We are born into belief systems that carve grooves in our heads about success, normalcy, power, sex, inferiority, superiority, race, class, masculinity, femininity, and beauty. We can be simultaneously kind and cruel, generous and withholding, loving and hateful; we compartmentalize our faith.
I use mannequins to show this disconnect. I juxtapose them in groupings suggesting dynamic relationships, but it is the viewer who gives context and meaning to these groupings. Mannequins are empty shells. The viewer projects their own emotions onto these artificial simulacra, imbuing them with feelings filtered through the viewer’s own life experience. Perhaps it is easier to let mannequins absorb and contain our fears, longings, frustrations, joys, and desires rather than face them and deal with them ourselves. After all, the selfless beauty of their perfection is already whole and complete; it is timeless, and it never disappoints. And it erases any need for growth, for change, for...personality. After all, they are the best versions of us, right?
In THE SELFLESS BEAUTY OF PERFECTION, I explore that juncture where the artificial and the real coexist, the place where what we think we want and who we really are, live side by side–and even thrive. We are born into belief systems that carve grooves in our heads about success, normalcy, power, sex, inferiority, superiority, race, class, masculinity, femininity, and beauty. We can be simultaneously kind and cruel, generous and withholding, loving and hateful; we compartmentalize our faith.
I use mannequins to show this disconnect. I juxtapose them in groupings suggesting dynamic relationships, but it is the viewer who gives context and meaning to these groupings. Mannequins are empty shells. The viewer projects their own emotions onto these artificial simulacra, imbuing them with feelings filtered through the viewer’s own life experience. Perhaps it is easier to let mannequins absorb and contain our fears, longings, frustrations, joys, and desires rather than face them and deal with them ourselves. After all, the selfless beauty of their perfection is already whole and complete; it is timeless, and it never disappoints. And it erases any need for growth, for change, for...personality. After all, they are the best versions of us, right?
