Poetics Of Resistance. About The Work
“The goal of art, after all, is not to change things – they change themselves all the time, anyway. The function of art is rather to show, to make visible the realities that are too often ignored.” Boris Groys
At the intersection of sociology and photographic practice, my work focuses on appearance as an instrument of collective struggle. I gather images photographed among five subcultures that use garments as a support for social and political protests. What ties the practice of roller derby, cabaret, undermining, cosplay or voguing? Seemingly disparate, bringing together members of different ages, genders, origins and most of the time ignoring each other, these communities nevertheless share symbols, ideology and social organization that speak to us about our contemporary societies. In a mastered form of appearances and poses, they all use their bodies as a device of resistance and question the validity and limits of societal imperatives.
Images do not distinguish surface and depth, authentic and artificial. Their combination, and the work of sequencing, redundancy or variations involved, invites us to consider appearance as a language, as a source of meaning. Appearance thus becomes a visible manifestation of political, philosophical or sexual positions. Its history (and, by extension, the history of fashion and clothing) reflects profound social mutations. Because they embody a system of etiquette and morality, bodies and garments are infinitely political, cultural and social. From mirrors of the soul in a now outdated conception, they are especially reflections of their time, revealing the history of its struggles. They have always been individuals to express and invent themselves through style. From a simple clothing bias, this style can sometimes be the expression of a way of life that breaks with the imposed norms of a society. This project deals with this second category of men and women, sometimes teenagers. Individuals of different lifestyles who wish to challenge the accepted standards and values established by the dominant fringe of society.
Poetics Of Resistance. About The Work
“The goal of art, after all, is not to change things – they change themselves all the time, anyway. The function of art is rather to show, to make visible the realities that are too often ignored.” Boris Groys
At the intersection of sociology and photographic practice, my work focuses on appearance as an instrument of collective struggle. I gather images photographed among five subcultures that use garments as a support for social and political protests. What ties the practice of roller derby, cabaret, undermining, cosplay or voguing? Seemingly disparate, bringing together members of different ages, genders, origins and most of the time ignoring each other, these communities nevertheless share symbols, ideology and social organization that speak to us about our contemporary societies. In a mastered form of appearances and poses, they all use their bodies as a device of resistance and question the validity and limits of societal imperatives.
Images do not distinguish surface and depth, authentic and artificial. Their combination, and the work of sequencing, redundancy or variations involved, invites us to consider appearance as a language, as a source of meaning. Appearance thus becomes a visible manifestation of political, philosophical or sexual positions. Its history (and, by extension, the history of fashion and clothing) reflects profound social mutations. Because they embody a system of etiquette and morality, bodies and garments are infinitely political, cultural and social. From mirrors of the soul in a now outdated conception, they are especially reflections of their time, revealing the history of its struggles. They have always been individuals to express and invent themselves through style. From a simple clothing bias, this style can sometimes be the expression of a way of life that breaks with the imposed norms of a society. This project deals with this second category of men and women, sometimes teenagers. Individuals of different lifestyles who wish to challenge the accepted standards and values established by the dominant fringe of society.