Warning: this post contains full-frontal nudity. If images of nude bodies bother you, it would be best to click away from this page.
Brooklyn-based photographer Lauren Renner has a thought-provoking series titled ‘In Others’ Words’ featuring nude portraits of individuals covered in the stereotypical words others have used to describe them.
Renner started the project in 2011 as an exploration of identity and stereotypes. In an interview with Feature Shoot, she said she was initially motivated to embark on it for her BFA Thesis project.
However she was also spurred by the labels people gave her after she started dating women. “It was both scary and fascinating, and also a shock because I didn’t feel as though I’d suddenly morphed into a completely different person, yet somehow my sexuality was the characterizing feature that had skyrocketed to the forefront.”
For her series, Renner had the participants come prepared with a list of 50 to 100 stereotypes or labels they have been subjected to.
For shoots with multiple people, she had them take off their clothes and write on each other’s bodies, which she said “stimulates the act we commit of labeling each other in society every day.”
The photographs are a visual reminder of the immense power words carry in shaping other people’s perceptions of us.
“When it comes down to it, no matter who is labeling you, all of those words and constructs become a mish-mash inside of you, and seem to inform each other. Words carry a tremendous amount of power, which is why breaking away from some and holding onto others can feel so insurmountable. [...] After all, at the end of the day we put people into boxes because subconsciously it makes them easier for us to mentally digest.”
Renner is on the look-out for new participants, and if you’re interested in being part of her project, you can email her at lauren@laurenrenner.com.
‘In Others’ Words’ is currently exhibiting at the JANGEORGe Gallery in New York City til end August 2014.
Check out some photographs below and learn more about the project here.
[via Feature Shoot, images via Lauren Renner]