Impression asks which bodies are shown and which are relegated to invisibility by depicting a variety of subjects to challenge the dominant idea of a singular idealized body type that is perpetuated in the history of photography. Throughout this history, disproportionate attention is placed on the work of male artists. However, even female artists such as Imogen Cunningham have focused on these ‘flawless’ bodies, which perpetuates the notion of an idealized body in a more insidious way with the co-opting of one’s mind, more so than gender, becoming the fundamental issue. The work combines dramatic studio lighting, motion, and contorted gestures with black and white photography to concentrate on the elemental aspects of texture, shape, contour and tonality. Ultimately, this work counters social and cultural forces that define and control expressions of body and body image; the result is a work that functions as a tool for acceptance of self.
