Sarah Clarke

Exploring the use of the body as a consumer object.

My work investigates issues that surround the use of the female form within the media. In particular I have focused on the medias ‘ideal’ representation of the female form and using this so-called ‘ideal’ to capitalize and turn the body into a consumer object. I have tried to convey this notion through manipulating images found in the media by creating photomontages.
In addition to this my work consists of a series of portraits. Which are accompanied by the question; “How much are you worth?” This reinforces the links between the body and consumerism by exploring the body’s value in terms of money. The models used in these portraits were asked to wear as little clothing as possible, with the condition that they felt comfortable being photographed this way. Aiming to limit the viewer’s tendency to create stereotypes, and to display the true person.
The variety of clothing that each model wore was very interesting and it can be assumed that this is linked to personal body issues or insecurities, due to the medias creation of the perfect body, which is unattainable in real life. I chose models of the age that the media aims their products at in order to compare the ‘real’ portraits and the ‘air brushed’ magazine images.
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