Women are the genesis for this series of photographs by Ari Rossner. His subjects are strong and muscular; made of fire and flesh. Whether working or bearing life, Rossner’s women are anchored and rooted in the earth. His lens has captured their sublime forms, clean lines, and provocative poses and has rendered them as if they were sculptures. The spectator feels the strength and power of the female form, but there is nothing erotic about it; quite the opposite, in fact. Rossner has chosen to show woman in her purest, simplest form by photographing his subjects in the nude and dirtied with coal and soot; thus representing her fight for life. The artist explains that he is not showing a body as object, but rather a being as subject that cries out: “This is my body, and I’ll do what I want with it!” Rossner loves women, their freedom, and their ability to overcome all of the barriers that have been put in their way throughout the centuries. He admires them. In this exhibit he dares to showcase them nude, from the neck down, but in a non-sexual way. Rossner has chosen to photograph his subjects faceless because they are all one, and seeing their faces would only be a distraction. They are pure matter, in the flesh. “Women have often used nudity as a way of taking a stand and emancipating themselves. From Lady Godiva to African women who undress as a sign of aggressiveness to FEMEN, they all use the naked body as the ultimate weapon of peace.”
“This is my body, and I'll
do what I want with it!”
With “The Origin of Men” (Gustave Courbet’s painting reinterpreted for the 21st century) and other images of hands, feet, and buttocks that are seemingly out of place and indistinguishable from one another, Ari Rossner has sought to “confuse” people’s vision and force them out of their their narrow-minded boxes. “My target is our macho society in general”, he says. “Man has never learned to control his reptile-like brain. I hope to shake up the male perspective by exhibiting 180cm x 190cm pictures of female genitalia. Look gentlemen, that’s where you came from! That naked woman could be your mother, your sister, or your daughter. She carried you, has loved you, and taken care of you. The only way we will wake people up is by teaching the male brain to look at a woman’s genitals calmly and not as sexual objects.”