KATALIN KOTVICS

photographs click image for enlargement and details



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My Black and White silver gelatin prints constitute a new interpretation of the body and have been working on in the past two years. I am photographing both male and female nudes. My works belong to the most important issues of the 90', dealing with the body. However, it is bypassing the mainstream approach to the subject such as gender and sexual identity and the critical analysis of the body's social representation. The photographs were taken by using a distorting lens, followed by further darkroom manipulation. The self-invented technique and the manipulation of the body is following the path of Andre Kertesz of Hungarian origin who made a series of photographs in 1933 by using curved mirror to distort nude female bodies. MY nude images taken from a female viewpoint are lacking the voyeur attitude while they neither objectify nor exercise a control over the naked body. For me the process helps to question the limitation in space and time. On one hand the figure is taken out of the social context, the traditional background, creating a floating sensation in the gravitation free and timeless environment. On the other hand the bodily distortion raises the possibilities of having extended bodies reaching beyond the physical one. The series of images titled: "ASCENT" is investigating the boundaries and traditional viewpoint being considered as an isolated microcosm: with a solid structure, outlined by continuos borderline. In my works the bodies coexist with their aura and radiation where their mass becomes fluid: their borderlines flexible. The firm consistency of the body transforms into porous, where the matter of the body dissolves into space, creating unified substances. With my photographs I try to capture the symbiotic relationship of body and soul, thus offering a new perception while opposing common understanding of having the body as an imprisonment of the soul. Katalin Kotvics ...back to top