James Denton
Thélus / Logos, 2021
These photographs are an exercise examining the strength & softness of skin coexistent within the female form. Simultaneously, however, it acknowledges that the embodiment of the female form is… in essence, whatever you want it to be. The empty reflection in the mirror represents a womanhood not constrained by the superficiality of human flesh, and is subject to whatever the viewer constitutes as feminine.
This work was initially conceived as an visual ode to the Jungian theory of the Anima/Animus, something I had found personally beneficial recently. In the context of Women’s History Month, the concept sparked a compelling conversation around how the work could potentially be digested, in reference especially to some of his more antiquated ideas around the binaries of gender. Irony surely lies within the disproportionality of maleness objectively perceiving the psychology of all womankind.
As such, the project evolved, nulling my ‘masculine’ presence in the mirror’s reflection, ultimately revealing that it’s neither about the masculinity within each feminine nor the opposite; rather it’s about the everything and nothing within the majesty of the woman.
