Artist Statement: My work focuses on issues of female body image in a contemporary context. I am particularly interested in how women view themselves, and how this perception is altered by contemporary western society. I have worked with man-made archetypal images of women in my previous work, using images of mannequins and showing a comparison to a real, flesh and blood woman. I am fascinated by the "plastic-ness" of the modern ideal, which makes itself known in the media, celebrities, and in teenage girls saving up for breast implant surgery. I am interested in the search for comfort within one's own body.

For the Fitting Room series of photographs, I decided to explore a space that holds a morbid fascination for me. The fitting room has the power to make my dreams come true, as I try on clothes that will somehow transform me into a beautiful person. In reality, I am always disappointed, and, at times, disgusted by the pale, flabby body that presents itself under fluorescent lighting, reflected toward me from all angles. In the beginning I was afraid of the photographs; I hid in corners, with my head down. Over time I began to look at my body as a visual subject, with lighting, angles, symmetry, etc. I began to show my face, and even look directly at the camera. In the various booths, as I was taking the photographs, I was acting quickly and decisively, and very much in an instinctive way. In looking at the images later, I began to realize that although the images show an unconventionally beautiful body, they are beautiful in an unexpected way. I hope that these photographs create a feeling of the possibility for beauty to be in anyone. This is perhaps the simplest, most essential question in my work: What is beautiful?

Contact

Web: http://www.dianearcher.co.uk/

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