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Panties. Polish. Candy. Christine D'Onofrio April 30 - May 28, 2005

My photographic work involves striking contrast, luscious saturation and meticulously crafted setups that mimic artificial seduction. Panties, hair and cosmetics are assembled, reflecting their prominent use in visual culture. The products are synthetic; they represent a constructed myth of feminity supported by fixed cultural values. The objects present a natural and organic scene. Some have related to the drips of nail polish as bodily fluids; others comment that the panties remind them of sea creatures, amoebas and inner body parts. In reading the works, brand names and dye numbers prove otherwise. The aim of my work is to transform the constructed into the instinctual. It has been said that in my work "the organic and the artificial are more than entangled, they are virtually indivisible." This inseparable situation enacts identity formation. The products directly reference a conventional feminine representation, the familiar is transformed into new animated figures. This relates to identity formation, and the difficulty of separating culturally constructed femininity from the biological, 'authentic' female. The body is fragmented or purposely removed in my work for two reasons. Initially it was removed in self-defense, to resist the role of substitution or fetishism in my photographs' function. However, it also isolates the masquerade of femininity from the physical body, enabling it to be seen as an entity of its own. Judith Butler asks whether "masquerade conceals femininity that might be understood as genuine and authentic or whether masquerade is a means by which femininity is produced." This question is invited in reading my work, and the crisis exists in each of my photograph's documented performance. Using photography, my work intentionally infuses the scientific document inherent in the medium. The dilemma of the visceral and emphemeral is contrasted with the permanent documentary qualities of photography. Christine D'Onofrio http://www.christinedonofrio.com