Box Head
The ‘Box Head’ series is meant to question our roles in society and how they are viewed. We are all judged from the moment we are born until, and beyond, our death. How we all react to this judgement is observed and considered by the that surrounds us. Can we ever really escape the society that surrounds us? Through the very fact that we are creatures of a herd mentality when we ‘escape’ society are we just accepting our place in society and at most only entering another society? There are those who claim to have escaped their ties and need for the society that surrounds them. But no human can stand alone. No matter how small the community there will always be a role that is taken up, either through choice or by force. There will be a leader, there will be a subordinate, without definition a human society will collapse, enter ciaos and be reconstructed by another. We, almost as a rule, hate to be limited by the society we live in. We want to be freed of the bonds that enforce morality, loyalty, tax and that reinforces our place in that society. But at the same time, we find comfort in this structure. Why?
Beauty is the first of a multipart series called Box Head where I am trying to start a conversation on how women are depicted and thought of in our society. In Beauty she is sitting with her hands crossed with her breasts partially exposed. The box is chained to an unknown point outside of the frame. The depiction of butterflies, a symbol of beauty, is painted on the outside of the box symbolizing the use of makeup. Why would she feel the need to wear makeup, to look more attractive, or to feel more confident? What is inside the box? Why is the box closed? Has she closed and latched the box of did someone else? Would it matter if the box was open? Who or what is keeping the chain?
Reflection
In “Reflection” a woman is depicted with bare shoulders in a large fluffy dress at a desk with makeup brushes and an empty picture frame on a shelf behind her. The room she is in has the curtains drawn and only a single light source. There is a dancing Japanese crane depicted on her box which rigidly in place by bars which continue out of frame. In traditional Japanese culture the shoulder is seductive, sexually suggestive which is why a lot of old Japanese prints show women exposing a shoulder, it was titillating to the observer, kind of how we would look a woman showing the top of her stockings. She holds a mirror up, but can she see her refection in the mirror? Is she using the mirror to look around? Why is the frame empty? Has she ever really seen herself? Did she choose to have the playful crane on her box? Is the crane taking flight or displaying as part of a mating ritual?
Fetish
In ‘Fetish’ a woman is depicted in a male dominated field, firefighting. Her box depicts a lioness defending a recent kill. The broken rope shows she has broken free from the societal and cultural control. Yet she is still sexualized. She is wearing bunker gear but is depicted in such a way that it accentuates her femininity. The very fact that she is strong, independent and in a masculine field makes her even more sexual, beautiful and desirable but almost at a baser level almost primitively. She can take care of herself, and in return her children, and her significant other. She gives you a feeling that together you can rule the world. Considering this has she really broken free? Is her breaking of the bonds of society what we want in women? Does it matter? Does it matter that she is being fetishized? Is she even being fetishized?