Censored / Julia Lambright

For my piece, I chose to focus on the restrictions I feel both physically and mentally regarding my body and mind. Being a young woman, American society has placed rules and regulations on how one should think, act, and present themselves. You are expected to be gentle but not a pushover; assertive but not too aggressive. If you wear too much makeup you are a try hard, but if you don't wear enough you are lazy. If you wear revealing clothing you are a slut, but if you cover up too much your'e a prude.

In society there is no way to be what we consider the "perfect woman"; and really why would you want to? Perfection doesn't exist, its something we strive for but are doomed never to attain. And it isn't just the men in society that force us to try and fit into this mold; women are just as large a part of the problem. We see another woman who is successful or beautiful or smart and we automatically try to tear her down because we view her as a threat.

This piece plays off of this idea of my own discomfort with my body based on what I've been told is acceptable and what is inappropriate. When told about the project, my immediate thought was "of course I won't draw myself in the nude". I automatically ruled out the possibility simply because I assumed it would be embarrassing and not well received by my peers, not to mention I knew I myself would be ashamed to show my body to others. I decided instead to cover the areas of myself that are deemed sexual and inappropriate with the acceptable parts of male figures: their hands and arms. This is intended to symbolize the male dominance in society and the fact that it is men who tell us what is acceptable to do with our bodies.

The artist that influenced this work primarily is Spencer Tunick. He is an American photographer who was popular in the 1990's for his work organizing large scale nude shoots. He started documenting live nudes in public locations in New York through video and photographs, and his early work focuses more on a single nude individual or small groups of people. His work took a turn in 1994 when he posed and photographed 28 nude people in front of the United Nations building in Midtown Manhattan.

I was interested in his work because it really focused on the nude body not necessarily as a sexual object but rather as an outlet to challenge the idea of privacy and comfort. By grouping such large groups of individuals in their most natural state, he worked to undermine the inherent sexuality of the naked body and instead presented it as a natural state of being.