Marlena Artis - Viviane Sassen post 7

1) Which of the artist's many technical choices are of interest to you and why?

The first aspect that I noticed in Sassen's series, "Roxane II", is that her photographs are multimedia works as well. She includes paint on the actual physical print of the photograph, as well as incorporating paint on her subject in the photograph. Also, it's really interesting to see how Sassen has composited all of her photographs. She utilizes lighting, shadows, colors, and a unique point of view while shooting the subject. For example, in the first photograph I shared Sassen shoots the silhouette of the female body on a material that the female is holding herself. I admire her use of shadows because Sassen uses them as a means of adding more depth to the subject. In her series, she expresses how these elements can come together to create a much more playful mood. 

2) What do you believe are the artist's conceptual and/or thematic intentions?

I believe Sassen's concept with her, "Roxane II" series was to accentuate the female body in a sensual way - but not in a hyper sexualized way either. In other photographs, Sassen has her subject sometimes curled up in odd positions. I believe Sassen is expressing feminism as well, being that many of the photos are manipulations and paintings of the female genitalia. Prior to reading interviews on Sassen, her intention was to express her friendship and relationship with Roxane as well as the former. 

3) How do you personally respond to these choices and intents?

I love Sassen's playful and creative aesthetics throughout "Roxanne II". Not only that aspect, but it's a personal bias of mine for her series to be portraiture work. I've always been fond of the human body, as fascinating as it is. Her use of casting shadows to create organic shapes across her subject is quite innovative in my opinion, since I've never seen somebody intentionally utilize it like that. It's a very new and interesting concept for me to create a series based on the relationship a photographer has with their subject. This gives me a new reason or intent for photographing certain people.