Photographer Polly Penrose documents the beauty of the female form through carefully planned self portraits. Seven years ago while visiting her step father's factory she discovered beauty amongst the cold metal of industrial machines and decided to photograph herself with them. Illustrating the juxtaposition of the bare and fair skinned female body against an unlikely environment, Penrose's series "A Body of Work" captures the relationship between subject and space. Relying predominantly on natural light with the occasional softbox, there is a very organic approach to these images. Penrose is careful to hide her face in the images to draw attention to the form and pose. The antonymous arrangement of body and environment sheds light on the often painful experience of trying to fit in. Penrose's portraits document the human body becoming part of an unlikely space. According to Penrose "the process of taking the pictures is punishing. It leaves me bruised and aching. Every picture is taken on self-timer, which makes for a repetitious, highly physical process. It takes a long time to get the shot ... I can go from camera to pose and back perhaps 50 or 60 times, which, when your're hanging off a fireplace can take its toll physically. It feels like I'm hammering my body into the landscape of the room," - a deeper testament to the difficulty of "fitting in"
"The photos have become a kind of diary of my experiences and emotions," With a range of photographs stretching over the course of seven years, Penrose's portraits document the human body as it adapts to physical and emotional changes. Pregnancy, marriage, love and loss; these images have come to elaborate an artistically intricate benchmark of notable life experiences. "The memory of how frustrating, how painful, how cold, how scary the photos were to capture is layered into my experiences of the images. These are the emotional marks the images leave on me, as the bruising and aching fade."
Polly Penrose
Polly Penrose
Polly Penrose
Polly Penrose
Polly Penrose
Polly Penrose
Polly Penrose
Polly Penrose
via [HuffingtonPost]
I can't say I get it.
the words are making it even worse ... not mine cup of coffe
I don't get it either. It looks thrown together. If they were well thought out. . . it doesn't seem to look that way. "There are some curtains, lay their naked. . . wait, hide your face and curl like ball"
I think the photos are striking. They kind of tread the line between traditional fine art nudity and the somewhat banal post-modern art that is very popular these days. That's not bad at all. Many photographers have tackled the banal and been very successful.
However, as well done as the photos are, the project as a cohesion of concept and execution feels very...college thesis-ish.
What I mean by that is: the artist is trying to communicate very lofty, abstract ideas with photos that don't feel very deliberate in their execution even though they were obviously planned and set up.
I think, in terms of the actual message behind the project, this is another case of the artist statement taking precedence over the communicative power of the actual work.
Yes, you hit the nail on the head... very college thesis-ish. Perhaps a good concept, but not fleshed out enough to be compelling.
Is she Penny or Polly Penrose?
Vapid.
No disrespect to the photographer is intended here, but if the subject wore clothing, would these photos have made it onto this site?
valid point. I was fascinated by the work as the artist was taking self portraits. My intrigue and yours aren't always going to fall in line with each other - my job is to present the content with a brief commentary on my perspective of it. I hope you were able to read the article. Stripping down to nothing and taking numerous shots of your self is in my mind the epitome of facing one's fears.
Yes, so very courageous of her. People strip down and take selfies of themselves quite commonly these days.. sending them to and fro across the internet with no fear at all. Not knocking the artist at all, but "the epitome of facing one's fears?" Come on.
I had to make an account and turn off work-safe mode for this?
I think the author's selections really hurt the article. Go to Polly's site, and view her work in that context. She seems to have more hits than misses when her work is viewed as a whole.