The Human Form
I have photographed the human body at different times for different reasons, but I keep returning to the same things: light, contour, gesture and what can be suggested without showing everything. Read more below…
The earlier Bodyscape photographs began with five women who had not previously posed nude. I worked with 5×4 Polaroid black-and-white film, partly because it allowed each woman to see the photograph immediately and decide whether it should continue to exist. I deliberately excluded faces. Without expression or identity directing the picture, a back, an arm, a hand or the turn of a body could be read more as form, landscape and individual presence. The original series also incorporated words written by the women themselves.
La Petite Mort approaches the body differently. These photographs are softer, closer and more ambiguous. Focus drifts. A face, shoulder, strand of hair or small detail of skin may be enough to carry the picture. The work developed around Summer May's thoughts about femininity, sexuality and a woman's ownership of her own body and desire.
'The pictures in this series are about my femininity and sexuality. I like exploring the taboos that I feel shouldn’t be. I am supposed to be sexy but not sexual. Why is this? I am happy to admit that I enjoy sex. It is a natural part of life, yet women are often judged for their sexuality. My sexuality is mine and exists for me to share. Or not.
Love yourself.'
Summer May.
Across both series, I am less interested in describing the body than in finding pictures within it: the point where light, shadow and a fragment of human form become something else.only.