Impression

• Prize
• Photographer
  Kate Jordan, United States

Impression asks which bodies are shown and which are relegated to invisibility by
depicting a variety of subjects to challenge the dominant idea of a singular idealized
body type that is perpetuated in the history of photography. Throughout this history,
disproportionate attention is placed on the work of male artists. However, even female
artists such as Imogen Cunningham have focused on these ‘flawless’ bodies, which
perpetuates the notion of an idealized body in a more insidious way with the coopting of
one’s mind, more so than gender, becoming the fundamental issue.

The work combines dramatic studio lighting, motion, and contorted gestures with black and
white photography to concentrate on the elemental aspects of texture, shape, contour and
tonality. Ultimately, this work counters social and cultural forces that define and
control expressions of body and body image; the result is a work that functions as a tool
for acceptance of self.