002 → Started From The Body, Charlotte Abramow
Press Release + Publication
Press Release for the first solo exhibition of Belgian artist Charlotte Abramow—titled "Started From The Body." This exhibition is centered around the inclusive and mindful portrayal of all women. The quotes have been translated from French, and the complete text is featured in the exhibition catalog, which was designed by me.
“The body, that’s what started it all. The body you see in magazines and the one you look at in the mirror.
These representations are where you don’t necessarily recognize yourself, even when thin, white, young, and able-bodied. What a shame! Yet, what we always see and feel is the posturing of desire—an image replete with seduction, validation, or a certain type of unique beauty standard. These are things I have felt ever since I was young: the sensation of performance of femininity. Something rather unnatural. A female body is always under the pressure of observation, objectification, sexualization, and judgment.
I would like to desexualize the so-called female body and show it with a different perspective than an eye of desire, a tool to please the other. I wish to show the honesty, the fragility, the solitude, the humor, and even the reveries of young women. With my experience as a growing young woman, I wish to show the gaze upon the evolving body. To make fun of these hypersexualized attributes and instead show curiosity, absurdity, and kindness; a playfulness with our body!
To laugh with it and not at it. Perceive our body as a painting, a landscape, or a wrapping, a manifestation brought to life. Bulges become clouds; stretch marks become the branches of a river’s delta.
And then, I wish to recover possession of this body and its power for desire and pleasure. By oneself and for oneself; independence and emancipation. I discover the political power of the body. I slowly advance on the road of feminism that feels visceral but still so much larger than I. I gradually understand how gazes blinded by stereotypes have locked up our bodies according to our appearance. I am learning how forces of power and domination relate to female bodies and classify them according to gender, race, and class. I would like to highlight the voices of these women, among many others, who are always fighting for more justice, understanding, and equality. This is just the beginning of my long journey to understand the world through women and how we can fight together to make it better.”
Charlotte’s work has a reverence for the outspokenness of one’s body, the inner & outer imperfections that make a body a natural beauty.
“I take inspiration from the colors of my childhood, my dreams, the world where I live, and also the surrealist currents. I love the intelligent art of Magritte and the colors and colorful compositions of Joan Mirò. I love how Sophie Calle poetically articulates images and words. I take inspiration from my intimacy as well, from the stories of others, from what we think only affects us but is, in fact, collective.”
Charlotte’s body of work reveals the ode to color, body autonomy, and self-acceptance. In works such as Les Enveloppes — Guimauve, 2015, Paris, this image comes from a project around the body.
“I wanted to show another image of the naked body than the carnal or sexual one and to show something beautiful, evocative, and artistic in spite of what we tend to hide: the imperfections, the folds, the bulges. Like a new statue from the 21st century, the texture of the skin becomes almost gourmand, like bread dough or marshmallow.”
Absurde Censure, 2018, Paris was an image originally taken for a project about a couple. Charlotte wanted to post the original image uncensored on Instagram.
“But of course, the so-called female nipple being extremely dangerous for society, the application immediately deleted my image. Annoyed at the moment, I open Photoshop, select the man's nipple, copy it, and paste it on the woman's nipple. This time, the application accepts the image. A nipple, however, has no gender, but in 2018, and still today, to censor a so-called female nipple, you just have to hide it with a so-called male nipple.”
Charlotte keeps her promise of being a vessel between unheard voices and our society. Her models of photography are real people with their real stories. Picking the people has always been quite instinctive for Charlotte.
“I don't have any criteria. I like people of all kinds and I can find beauty in everyone. I like to show people the right balance between strength and fragility, kindness and assurance. More recently, I have been taking portraits of women who are more involved and have political voices. I am interested in keeping in mind through photography anonymous or known women, who fight for ideals of social justice, but being an activist is not a requirement for me. And even the person who thinks she is the ugliest or most insignificant could pose for me, so many people don't even know how beautiful they are.”
Another one of Charlotte’s favorites is, 12H - Le Cri Défendu, 2021, Paris.
“This is my first short story; there are multiple short episodes in the series, H24, 24h in the life of a woman, which has just been released on ARTE, a European cultural channel. The series talks about the violence made to women, which hides in daily life and many aspects of their lives. In my film, a young woman intervenes in a violent marital dispute in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant”.
Charlotte shows the raw truth without using typical everyday language but instead plays with visual senses such as incorporating dynamic color aspects.
“I am used to thinking before I make my images, to build them up beforehand. I sometimes leave myself with more freedom and improvisation on the shoot. I give myself a starting point or a framework and I create around it according to the moments. For my videos, I first edit in my head before making the images. I build and plan the video object shot by shot.”
Charlotte uses both still shots and video work to bring her idea to fruition. This is the main focus of her exhibition: still photography and cinematography. You will be able to see both come to life at the gallery.
HYPEBAE Article
The Eye of Photography Article
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