Sunday 6 September 2009

The Big Bad Wolf

Film : FUR - An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus
Nicole Kidman

As its name implies, "Fur" is a is a fictional account and tribute rather than an accurate biography of Diane Arbus, the photographer who shocked and impressed with pictures of people and things that were out of the ordinary. The cinematic Arbus (Nicole Kidman) is torn between a bizarre relationship with a neighbour suffering from hypertrichosis, Lionel Sweeney (Robert Downey, Jr.), and a conventional life with her husband Allan (Ty Burrell), a photographer.

"Fur" is fetishistically sensitive and alert to surfaces and textures. Its images bristle with tactile impressions: fur, wallpaper, fabric, hair, skin. It would be wonderful to capture this sensation.

It may be that my experiments with the language of clothing are made by selecting already recognised and accepted items of make-up and disrupting the cultural expectations of how that facial cosmetic 'is'.





Of Men And Beards , View on Colour - Abstraction, Issue 28
Photos by Dimitri Tolstoy



Werewolf Syndrome

One in 10 billion people is born with hypertrichosis, more commonly known as Human Werewolf Syndrome. This condition is marked by excessive body hair, literally creating a blanket of hair across the body's surface. What is deemed as excessive is a matter of opinion, 'Throughout history, men's facial hair has been been a focus of of appearance and changing grooming practices.' Encyclopedia of Hair: A Cultural History, Victoria Sherrow.

1 comment:

  1. One in 10 billion people? That's clearly inaccurate information. There's not even 10 billion people on earth.

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