Projected Projections

Our bodies communicate. They do it fairly intuitively: we react to the person we’re talking to, adapt and integrate ourselves into new situations. We learn body language just like we learn our first language – from what’s ‘role-modelled’ to us – but our understanding of it develops faster. At some point, however, while the development of our vocabulary begins to stall, the flood of new images continues. So, if the pictures around us are what we then become, it’s time we took a closer look at how photography is affecting the way we are and see things.

Do we take photographs at face value? Do they make us blind to what we can’t see? And how far do appearances affect what lies within us? Perhaps we see too many images? And if we do, who or what do they make us want to be? The older I get, the more I get the sense that femininity has hardly anything to do with what the images would have us believe. I want to find my own inner truth, myself, and the camera is my tool to examine and document what I see.

Why can’t I hold all these projections? (2020–) is the title of an ongoing project in which I invite women to become (with the help of a mirror) the pictures of other women: literally projecting them onto their own bodies in front of my video camera. The images I use are ideals (of beauty) and represent society’s expectations of women. Whether consciously or subconsciously, they’re the projections women try to fit into and are expected to fulfil. Why can’t I hold all these projections? depicts the metaphorical dance women perform in their everyday lives. Some of the poses are chosen, rhythmic, harmonic and fun, some are involuntary, overwhelming and paralyzing. The project is an exploration of where free will begins and ends, and what ultimately shapes and influences it.

CREDITS:

PHOTOGRAPHY: Nora Heinisch
STYLING: Pina Marlene
HAIR AND MAKEUP: NAOMZZ @ Collective Interest
MODELS: Devon Kaylor and Stella Fath @ Kyra Sophie
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT: Stefan Damnig