LOOK STRAIGHT
‘...there is something predatory in the act of taking a picture. To photograph people is to violate them, by seeing them as they never see themselves, by having knowledge of them that they can never have; it turns people into objects that can be symbolically possessed.’ - Susan Sontag, On photography
Started as a series that captures intuitive process of analysing, reflexing and rethinking the definition of masculinity and beauty in post soviet Russia, look straight soon grew into a large collection of different faces united by one aesthetics. Inspiring by the simplicity of mugshots, while taking photos I ask models to give me direct, strong gaze, I tell them not to smile, looking straight and staying still, approaching the pureness of the posture and intensity of the glance. I’m trying to prove Susan Sontag’s statement turning it into the concept, the idea of possessing someone for a moment while taking a shot, making someone vulnerable and naked with their clothes on.
Experimental photobook, digital print on foil, finding screw
https://www.wulmagazine.com/editorials/paulina-masevnina