@coffeemugcc – Untitled (2017)
An argument that I’ve made multiple times through this project is that I don’t think there’s every any reason to decapitate someone. This goes triple for folks making work where they want to remain anonymous–it’s really just lazy and sloppy for you to position yourself with your head just beyond the edge of the frame. It limits what you can do compositionally and just signals a lack of willingness to do some planning and or problem solving.
I’ve forward the idea of excising faces of folks who want to remain anonymous–a la Bellocq’s Jesuit brother.
This was before I spent any time on Instagram–or, as I insist the kids are calling it The ‘Gram. The Gaussian blur over nipples and genitals is incredibly distracting and detracts enormously from the images. Thus: I will concede that I didn’t think this all the way through. Short of the effect that liquefy effect that @lisakimberly uses so fantastically, masking faces in post is probably not the best approach.
Point being: it’s good to have some kind of idea what you are going to do with an image after you make it. Case in point: the image above.
Ostensibly it’s the picture of a young woman, hands covered in papaya juices with her finger disappearing into the soft core of the ripe fruit. It brings to mind both masturbation and lesbian fucking.
It’s also 100% compliant with The ‘Gram’s standards. It’s arguably that the depth of field would’ve rendered the fact that the model is naked from the mid-riff down but the right little finger protrudes in such a way as to obfuscate any sort of consideration that the creator is trying to sneak something by the censors.
And really that’s what I should be emphasizing instead of completely poopoing any one strategy for addressing concerns over what to show, what to hide and what to excise–there’s almost always a better way to do something than what first occurs to you. It’s always wise to know your own limits as well as the limits of those you work with as well as the forums where you disseminate work.
This does just that and does it masterfully.
Acetylene Eyes 