Artist research Dani Lessnau

 https://www.dazeddigital.com/art-photography/article/38831/1/artist-dani-lessnau-extimite-puts-camera-inside-vagina-takes-photos-of-lovers

I'm intrigued by Dani Lessnaus innovative use of pinhole photography. In her series of photos titled " Extimite"

She speaks about the act of turning her body into a camera to create space for her breath to act on the film.

She created these photographs by inserting home made pin hole cameras in her vagina to take images of her " lovers "who consented and posed for the photographs. 

An extreme form of photography maybe but suitable approach to the subject, the intimate nature of the process and subject in a reversal of the male gaze in what she calls

"empowered vulnerability "

I like how she talks about the practice and experiencing the photograph as a physical thing-  the act if leaving an impression created from a moment of stillness and breath The aproch is set up for imperfection and adds the atmosphere of  the capture.

The results are obscured and mysterious, its not graphic nudity , it's an atmospheric impression . It's the process story behind the work that add to the intrigue and intimacy.

She speaks of seeing with the whole body.

It's the idea of leaving an impression that interests me about the physical act of making and using a pinhole camera. My investigation into St Marys is all about traces and impression of the past finding their way here in the present and I'm viewing from a feminist/ female perspective. Noting these women listed as wives or daughters left a very faint impression I'm trying to reflect this in my Pinhole images. My choice of medium was to capture the vintage aesthetic  from a present moment As it leads itself to this ghostly impression and captures both movement and stillness.

Lessnaus approach with pin hole is a lot about the home made aspect and again of stillness and movement. Pinholes are very atmospheric and the lack of control I think is beauty of it.

We are both using the Pinhole camera to explore feminine issues of perspective.

In contrast to my investigation on the Victorian area of photography and female repression.

This is a woman using "empowered vulnerability " to explore the female gaze.

My Notes