Artwork description:

“We remain always connected to the past. We can never leave it behind completely, though we may wish we could. Be they friendly or hostile, we must find our way to live with the ghosts of the past. Our own, and each other’s.”

‘Ghosts Of Former Lovers’ is a deeply personal project exploring relationships, self-actualisation, jealousy and intimacy, through a series of nude photographs of the artist’s lover. Shot on fast black and white film, in low light and without flash, the images are spectral and atmospheric, the chiaroscuro rendering the nude female form at its purest and blurring the lines between intimacy and detachment, voyeurism and objectification.

The woman becomes all women, but more specifically all the women the artist has known and loved, superficially the same in physical characteristics but different in almost every way whether physical or psychological. The project emerges from the tensions which may be created within a present relationship by past actions and past choices, emotional and logical disconnects, and conflicts between external perception and self-awareness.

The ultimate and perhaps impossible purpose is an exploration and understanding of the extent to which the past influences and informs the present, whether we can free ourselves of malign elements while still retaining the beneficial effects of experience, or if perhaps the ghosts of former lovers, both benevolent and malevolent, will haunt us forever.

Edition of 10 (plus 2 artist's proofs). K3 print on Hahnemühle FineArt Pearl paper. Sold unmounted/unframed. Please contact me if you wish to discuss mounting and framing options.

Additional images simulated and for illustration purposes only.

Materials used:

K3 print on Hahnemühle FineArt Pearl paper.

Tags:

#woman #black and white #nude #monochrome #erotic #body #model #shadows #chiaroscuro #bodyscape #skin #ghost #analogue #film photography #35mm