Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces
“I wanted my photographs to be as powerful as the last thing a person sees or remembers before death" Joel-Peter Witkin (Marino, Joel-Peter Witkin: An Objective Eye).
Joel-Peter Witkin is one of the most controversial modern contemporary photographers of our time, so much so that a warning is appropriate to open with. Please do not view Witkin’s work if you are easily offended; there are photographs that you may find obscene and offensive. Many people may view his photography as perverted and repulsive. However, with an open mind, you can find the true beauty in the photographs. Witkin has photographed transsexuals, dwarves, intersex people, corpses, and people with severe disabilities. Without his photography, many people may never have had an opportunity to see what people with certain conditions look like or even know that those people are unashamed to show their bodies. Some subjects just wanted to be photographed as what they were, human, such as the case of thalidomide victim Witkin photographed. He had no eyelids or ears, and he had to live with drug addicts to survive. Each day his drug addict roommates would have to wrap his skin to protect him. The
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gentleman gave Witkin permission to photograph him with one condition, he wanted to look human. Witkin gives those willing to look an up close view of life after death and a little bit of everything in between. Witkin has had an influence in the photography, fashion, and music fields and challenged traditional notions of beauty and obscenity. Witkin’s work as a contemporary artist is nothing short of spectacular.
Witkin does not use computer generated graphics in any of his works. He uses only traditional methods of photography. Witkin works heavily on film negatives. He makes photographs even more distinct by scratching the negatives in expressive patterns, staining the prints with toners and displaying them in elaborate frames (Hagen). His works have inspired many other artists and continues to do so to this day. His works also seems to pay tribute to prior artists that came before him as well as many religious depictions. Harvest (Figure 1), seems to be his own version of Giuseppe Arcimboldos Summer, a painting from 1563 and Penitente in which he recreates his own version of the
crucifixion. Figure 1 (Witkin) Those with religious affiliations may see Witkin’s Penitente as sacrilegious. Maybe by looking at in a different state of mind, viewers may liken it to a possible allegorical reference that we are all monkeys on strings, ones to be crucified by society. Witkin’s work is something that many people will be talking about for a very long time to come. Joel Peter-Witkin was born on September 13, 1939, in Brooklyn, New York (American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise). It would not be long after his entrance to the world, at the tender age of six, that something deeply shocking would affect him. This is when Witkin would have his t first up close experience with death. Witkin was on his way to a Sunday church service when a tragic automobile accident occurred. While he was standing in the middle of all of the chaos surrounding around him, he saw something rolling down the road. The object was rolling from one of the overturned cars. This object continued to roll toward him and stopped right where he stood. The object was the decapitated head of a young girl. As one can imagine, this would have a deeply profound effect on any child. Witkin states this was when his vision and sensibility were initiated (American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise). Witkin began photography in 1956 when he was sixteen years old. By the following year, Edward Steichen had selected one of his photos for the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City (Fallis). Witkin was drafted into the Army at the age of twenty, his photography did not stop for war. He became a combat photographer for three years while he served in Vietnam. Most of his photographic assignments included photographing military suicides and military training accident deaths (American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise). Tragic deaths seemed to keep following Witkin. Upon his discharge from the military, he became a freelance photographer. Witkin’s initial works began with deformed figures and anything that may be considered obscene. He placed an ad asking for people with any type of deformities or abnormalities to be photographed (Wilson). With the placement of this ad, the photography world would not be the same again. It would not be long until Witkin was able to create an arrangement with a hospital in Mexico City to photograph, pose, and mutilate the unclaimed and anonymous deceased subjects. It was here that many of his grotesque, objectionable, and notorious photographs were created Soon he would be making his mark on the world. Witkin’s work has been used across many artistic spectrums other than photography. He served as an inspiration the fashion world. Alexander McQueen used Witkin’s works in his Dante fashion show. He paid homage to Witkin’s raw and primal photography and morphed it into the fashion world. McQueen took Witkin’s famous mask with a crucifix on the front of it and placed it on one of his models as she walked down the runway. Witkin wore this mask in a portrait that his wife took of him and is often a recurrent feature in many of his works. This was the show in which McQueen became a prominent fashion designer and was finally taken seriously. Alexander McQueen also heavily relied on Witkin’s photography in a show called VOSS. He compiled many of Witkin’s photos and used them to inspire SS01. This was a homage to Witkins 1983 Sanitarium, New Mexico (Allwood). He used a large woman just as Witkin did in his photograph. Not only was McQueen paying homage to Witkin’s photography, he was challenging the norms of what society deems as beautiful, in the same way Witkin did. Not only did Witkin make his mark on the fashion world, he did so in the music world as well. Witkin’s photography has become the cover art for many different albums such as Devourment - Molesting the Decapitated 1999, Pungent Stench – For God Your Soul…for Me Your Flesh 1990 and Been Caught Buttering 1991, and Senescence – Harvest 2002 (colotripidator). Witkin’s most prominent mark on the music industry is Nine Inch Nails (NIN) video for Closer 1994. Many of the shots in the video are a reflection of Witkins work. Director for the music video, Mark Romanek, confirms how Witkin was an inspiration to the video as well as several other artists (Romanek). During the interview he also shows a wall covered in photographs and art from varying artists. For instance Witkins Mother and Child in which Trent Reznor, NIN front man, is wearing the same type of goggles the mother is wearing in Witkin’s photo. Also, Reznor recreates Witkin’s Still Life, by using his own face on a ball with flowers coming out of his head. There are several other instances of Witkin’s work in the video such as Savior of the Primates and Journies of the Mask. David Bowie also used the famous crucifix mask in his video Dead Man Walking. While he may not make beautiful music, Witkin’s photography inspires beautiful music videos and cover art. Joel-Peter Witkin is a visionary artist, one that spans across many spectrums. It is not hard to see why he is so influential, whether it be in the macabre sense or just the topic of a moral discussion. He utilizes a taboo medium and creates beautiful works of art with them. While some may not like much of his work, there are many that can appreciate one piece of his work. Witkin is doing what society teaches, love your neighbor. He is not hiding the lepers and pariahs of society and keeping them hidden in some dark corner of the house. He is putting them on display for all to see. For there is nothing to fear, and it is okay to accept people just the way they are. In order to do that, one must have an open mind and take a deeper look at the art. Viewers must also let go of all the negative connotations associated with his work and just be with the work. Chances are that you, too, will be able to see the beauty that the dark, macabre, and grotesque have to offer. Works Cited Allwood, Emma Hope. "Dazed." September 2015. www.dazeddigital.com. Article. 14 October 2015. American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. "Jewish Virtual Library." 2015. jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Article. 14 October 2015. colotripidator. "Encyclopaedia Metallum." 19 February 2012. www.metal-archives.com. Article. 14 October 2015. Fallis, Greg. "Sunday Salon: Joel-Peter Witkin." 28th January 2007. Utata.org. Web. 14 October 2015. Hagen, Charles. "Horror and Camp in Work by Joel-Peter Witkin." 9 April 1993. nytimes.com. Print. 11 October 2015. Joel-Peter Witkin: An Objective Eye. Dir. Thomas A. Marino. Perf. Joel-Peter Witkin. 2013. Documentary. Romanek, Mark. The Making of the Closer Video. 1994. Video. Wilson, Cinatra. 9 May 2000. salon.com. Article. 7 November 2015. Witkin, Joel-Peter. Harvest. Philadelphia. Photograph.
Johnson, Brooks. Photography Speaks: 150 Photographers on their Art.” New York: Aperture Foundation Inc., 2004. Print.
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