Came across the work of Laurel Nakadate recently. At first glance I thought she was exploitative, vain and quite frankly, annoying. However the longer I stayed with the work the more it revealed itself to be innovative and fearless (I love when that happens by the way). She takes on the relations between male/female and the privileged/ marginalized in a deeply personal and absolutely shocking way. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the work and I'm wondering what other people think about it.
http://ps1.org/exhibitions/view/321
Yes, looking at the work I initially thought of "facebook/I'm a fashion model" photography and was repulsed. But she's quite dynamic! I am enjoying reading some interviews with her...
ReplyDelete"Discomfort and awkwardness are places where you feel things. I’m a big advocate for being happy. We can choose to live in a happy bubble. But part of being happy is understanding how sad things can be. I feel like I’m at a place in my life where I’m really strangely happy, and in awe of how great the world can be, and I think that’s because I have gone through periods of looking at the world through a really melancholy lenses. It’s all just flip sides of the same coin. There’s such an energy created when the world is turned upside down, and when things are good again it’s nice to take note. Then it goes away."
One thing that is strange in looking her up- impossible to read an interview or review without a comment about her good looks. Without looking at her first I was expecting supermodel shockingly handsome artist! She's attractive, but the emphasis is a little over the top... to me, she is pretty average and playing up the slutty sexiness power role for her performances. I feel like that divide is lost a bit?