







Francesca Woodman was photographer and model, subject and object,
at the same time. She utilized the female body to develop
her own self-knowledge and not some representative but
generic model of the world. The images of the body that
this young American was experimenting with suggest a
diffuse intimacy while tending to dissuade a voyeuristic
approach. Unlike most of the images we are faced with on
a daily basis, where the body is treated like a commodity
to be used and consumed, or an icon to adore at safe
distance, Francesca Woodman employs her body to initiate
a dialog with herself. She places her body in familiar
settings, though at the limits of our experience,
presenting it as a symbol of receptivity, a meeting place
between herself and the rest of the world, a
communicative model in which information about her
experience is presented and reflected upon. She uses her
own body as a model to investigate her own vision and not
another's vision of her body. Woodman projects images
and symbols, hopes and fears onto the female body. She
uses it like a gesticulative vector not fully known to
her, communicating to the viewer the novelty of her
encounter.
Visit the exhibition at
Guggenheim.
//P:Belladonna is going