A woman's back fills the frame, emerging from a nearly black background. Two hands appear high on either side of the body, breaking the otherwise strong symmetry of the photograph.
The light is restrained but precise. It follows shoulders, spine and lower back before disappearing into shadow, turning the body into a series of surfaces rather than a conventional nude portrait. The hands complicate the picture. They give Holding its tension without explaining what is being held, or by whom.
This was part of my first nude series, photographed on 5×4 Polaroid black-and-white film. Faces were deliberately excluded. I wanted the photographs to remain about the body, its shapes and the person within it, without facial expression deciding how the picture should be read.
Artist: Paul Foley
Collection: The Human Form — Bodyscape Series
Title: Holding
Artwork: #0014
Subject: Female human form; back and hands
Medium: Black-and-white photography
Process: 5×4 Polaroid instant black-and-white film
Format: Vertical
Genre: Fine-art figure photography; bodyscape
Themes: Human form, anonymity, touch, light and shadow, gesture
Edition: Limited edition of 5 prints plus up to 2 Artist Proofs
Print: Archival fine art pigment print on cotton rag paper
Certificate: Signed Certificate of Authenticity
A woman's back fills the frame, emerging from a nearly black background. Two hands appear high on either side of the body, breaking the otherwise strong symmetry of the photograph.
The light is restrained but precise. It follows shoulders, spine and lower back before disappearing into shadow, turning the body into a series of surfaces rather than a conventional nude portrait. The hands complicate the picture. They give Holding its tension without explaining what is being held, or by whom.
This was part of my first nude series, photographed on 5×4 Polaroid black-and-white film. Faces were deliberately excluded. I wanted the photographs to remain about the body, its shapes and the person within it, without facial expression deciding how the picture should be read.
Artist: Paul Foley
Collection: The Human Form — Bodyscape Series
Title: Holding
Artwork: #0014
Subject: Female human form; back and hands
Medium: Black-and-white photography
Process: 5×4 Polaroid instant black-and-white film
Format: Vertical
Genre: Fine-art figure photography; bodyscape
Themes: Human form, anonymity, touch, light and shadow, gesture
Edition: Limited edition of 5 prints plus up to 2 Artist Proofs
Print: Archival fine art pigment print on cotton rag paper
Certificate: Signed Certificate of Authenticity
