Not pornography, yet you're still about to view some extremely graphic and jarring imagery from the masterful German, Barcelona based, contemporary artist Boris Hoppek so please use personal discretion when reading further. Hoppek's originally a graffiti artist but he's since blossomed into creating digital and installation art. No small wonder is it, that he's somehow bridged the ability to submerge the voyeur fully into an all encompassing photograph, that contains a carefully constructed scene that can equally enrage and sadden, as well as disgust and disturb.
When initially reviewing this site I had thought that some prolific artist figured out an ingenious way to take photographs of women naked because whatever Google search I had done lead me to like photo #47 or something. But there were SO MANY photographs underneath the intriguing header of "just the plain accurate artwork, seriously!! Photos showing women with problems or just being beautiful", I started at #1 and quickly changed my mind.
"What kind of 'problems' did this (obvious) man think women have?," I wondered while scrambling towards the little pink en-squared one to click it. I think by #8--which will be showcased here as number one--women problems became real apparent. Out of all 48 photographs, I want to focus on 17 of them and share them with you. Now. Like, right, now.
#1.) Was Really Number Eight - 'Behind Table B-Side'
NOT sex. Or sexual or sexualized, instead, this is dismissive, this is an exposed woman featured as furniture, as a chair. This is a stark contrast compared to the other S&M mannequin chair that was a literal fetish to sit upon. This is more. This makes me wonder why so many women love the home design shows, I'm just as guilty of loving them, do some of us obsess over controlling our interior exteriors of living-rooms and kitchens as a form of compensation for the loss of control in society at large? Is it a way to keep us controlled and at bay? Certainly makes a lot of us into constant shoppers and re-modelers, doesn't it? Is it really all just about making our homes look nice and the economy going in housewares? I don't think so. If women were encouraged to concern themselves with more then just beauty, how much more beauty could we create in the world? If we could be judged instead of on appearances, both of home and body, and instead be valued for our legit contributions. If the love we indulge in was a little less narcissistic, a little less materialistic, could we not make new worlds instead of new rooms, where we sit unappreciated and unappropriated like a forgotten, unused sex-toy?
To me, this is a lonely picture and a hopeless one. I was shaken and slapped. Should just be called 'IKEA Sex'. Everything's white, sterile, this pussy doesn't ever bleed, it doesn't get wet. It's not allowed to, it would ruin the room if it did. This pussy doesn't talk, it doesn't run, it never leaves the room. There's no seated family at this table, and the pussy as a chair means that technically...this room is empty. Except you're in the room too, also looking but not there. So that glass is forever unbreakable and empty, while lamps sit unlit on the floor, cords exposed, flanking her flanks so it's further impressed that she has truly transcended objectification by becoming an object.
#2.) 'Black Girl'
I know it's jarring, truly I feel Mr. Hoppek means no disrespect, we have to remember that all women are a fetish ultimately just for being born female. It is just as John Lennon sang, "Woman is nigger of the world, she is a slave to the slaves," that is the concept this artist is also trying to portray but in visual form, unfortunately a bit more acquiescently. I've been to a fetish ball, full body coverings like this are used in certain extreme S&M play, and there's been a huge surge over the last decade to accept S&M behavior as normative. But it's not, it's a fetish. It's not sex-play that everyone engages in or even likes. It doesn't create two equals in a relationship when practiced either, it instead creates a literal slave and master relationship. It can create a fertile ground for an abusive domestic atmosphere to grow and prosper at the expensive of the sex 'slave'. When the media creates what it creates and spews it out there for it to just get accepted instead of analyzed and discussed things like this:
(I actually love this movie...)
Promoting that somehow women allowing men to 'do what they want with their body' they're being sexually empowered?!--ha, ha, ha, wait, WHAT?! No, this is not what the sexual revolution was about. The only touted 'benefit' to the S&M subculture going mainstream is the dominatrix myth of a sexpot that emasculates males--however--that's a MALE FANTASY, any dominatrix I've ever met kinda were misandristic and needed money. Granted, I have not met many a dominatrix, but I can tell you, the ones I did meet were not living out a personal fantasy. They were getting paid.
Same with the silly notion of high heel shoes.
Women, you are crippling yourselves slowly by wearing heels. They are hellish contraptions designed to elongate the leg and accentuate the curve of the butt (why do you think strippers WEAR such ungodly high heels) so when men look at you, you contribute to THEIR fantasy, not yours. What might be cute at 20, I guarantee by ages 32--42 if you wear shit like that on your feet all the time, you're going to have foot pain and it's not worth it. It's not worth looking sexy to men, and what men, what kinda men do you think are watching you walk down the street in heels that disfigure you?--worthy men? Men that are brave, handsome, sexy, employed, non-pervs? Not all the men that see you looking that way are worthy of seeing you look that way and certainly aren't worthy enough for you to disfigure yourself slowly over. I'm serious. High heels, are the shoe fetish that belongs to the MALE and is projected ON the female. It's time to put our foot down and say no. Again, when a barrage of commercials show you all the "latest styles in footwear"--it's all bullshit trying to get you to buy into disposable commercialization.
Say no to the nonstop high heel. Be weary of the S&M sex-play because it's certainly not all rainbow glitter kittens of love at its pith.
#3.) 'Rainbow Bondage'
This makes me really sad, because it reminds me of this rainbow crayon I had as a kid that I totally loved to use to draw rainbows all day sometimes. It reminds me of childhood, innocence, of that desire to be loved and to find a love, but that pureness is in chains, instead awaiting the feeling, the purpose, of being physically hurt by someone instead of receiving their love. Tied up with love as the pretense without any love in the context. A lover you don't have to love.
It looks like child abuse. That's what I think about it. It makes me uncomfortable yet, it truly is beautiful, especially the translucent rainbow superimposed over her face. So I feel for the subject, and again, she's showcased in a white, sterile environment, and has to bury her true feelings and emotions inside of herself..in order to not ruin the carpet. Many layers and meanings in this work. It's overwhelming.
#4.) 'Rainbow Cover'
It's truly amazing that with just this model's face and feet exposed do you still feel like you're somehow in violation of witnessing a moment of orgasm. You see how she's a part of the earth and feels all the color, you see how she's sexy and how that can still be accomplished under an an afghan Grandma probably made her, you see how she's young, how she flows, how she doesn't need a man or a toy or her hands to achieve ecstasy. This is the exact pictorial of why and how women are made into fetishes as well as nurturers to generations of men.
#5.) 'Coffin-Mirror'
A literal self-refection, this image is about how when women allow themselves to become victims of narcissism, they will actively contribute to the objectification and sexualization of themselves to the point where the big reward of being 'the fairest of them all' is sometimes just an early grave. I know that's a bleak and blanket statement but if you think about all the Jane Does found ravaged in abandoned fields and the serial killer viewing fare on TV in the United States, when you consider the women and girls that are literally held captive and en-caged as sex slaves for years or decades, this photo, really should lead you to a similar conclusion. The pink piping of the mirror while she dons red and black underwear, I think is just a comment on how anymore, in the corporate media machine, little girls are just primed in pink before getting shellacked in the more sexed up black and red. The coffin lid says, "Motorcycle" and has a high relief of a cross cut out, and again, she's in a sterile room. To dive in further into this image, we have to consider the coffin lid itself.
What do motorcycles mean, what do they do? They kill the wreck-less and vibrate people's junk. They symbolize a rock'n'roll lifestyle of wild sex, hard drugs, and make me think she's naturally attracted to the token 'bad boy'. They also symbolize freedom but in this instance, notsomuch. The cross is mocking in this instance and I'm only inclined to say that based on another Hoppek photograph featured in this collection.
#6.) 'Crossed'
Many layers here as well, women aren't allowed to be 'cross', we aren't allowed to ever be mad. Especially in work environments in corporate America. As soon as a woman displays conviction or passion in a disagreement, she gets pegged as 'emotional' or 'aggressive'. Things even when males actually do display in work environments--aggression or acting out of emotion, especially when managing others--are glossed over and accepted. Too many times have I seen women bypassed for positions that are handed over to less competent males, yet women are supposed to always be friendly, be helpful, be well behaved, submissive, docile, these are attributes that are still encouraged and instilled into women. Not that all women should be wildcat, unfriendly, badass bitches--but too often it's forgotten that to be female is to be human first, not woman first. And humans have a varied range of emotions and behavior that we should ALL be allowed to express. Too many times the American female is pegged as passive-aggressive--is it because she's suppressing too much of her assertive aggression or is because she's not allowed to truly be aggressive in the first place? It's so easy for a male to degrade an enraged woman by calling her a 'crazy bitch' or instruct her to 'calm down' when she's angry, which, if she's anything like me, will make her MORE angry.
I don't want to hate on religion here or pick on any version of Christianity, but covering her with crosses was obviously no accident, the model is also looking downcast, almost ashamed of herself. And I'm sorry but me personally, as I began to age and question more, I ended up having to step away from the Quaker roots I was ingrained with. Certain tenants of the faith are lovely and should be practiced, perfected, and replicated. But other tenants, I struggled with greatly. Almost all of Genesis sets the foundation for patriarchy, capitalism, industrialization, wage slaves, the clothing industry, the demonetization and distrust of women, the tendency to NOT question authority, and set the stage for our current quagmire of gender engineering. What's worse, is that the "rules" in Genesis were set up basically as guides to get us here, to the point of which we have arrived. Where "dominion over the earth and sea" has lead to a GIANT ecological crises when we as a species stopped having a reverence for the earth and instead were encouraged to "dominate" it. A god that denied us the ability to live eternally because we disobeyed Him to seek knowledge? Why are these religious concepts accepted still? And what does the tale of The Fall really tell us?--that Eve was curious and shared something she found with her husband to bring him up to her level just so he could throw her under the bus and blame her for his own actions later?--yeah, guess it's all just subject to interpretation. Because put in that way, Adam becomes the first victim-blamer ever, it wasn't him that ate that apple of his own free will and accord, it was Eve's fault for giving it to him and telling him he should, not his own fault for listening and biting into it on his own. Eve didn't twist his arm. At this point, I would also like to say that I do not believe in the literal interpretation of the Bible either. Literal interpretations are for small minds.
Also, why constantly be ashamed of your nudity and your body? You are a perfect construct of nature and clothes?!--clothes are a tawdry escapade into The Fashion Industry that further promotes a separation from the divine depending how deeply one delves into becoming a fashionista. Why would god's first gift to us be clothes? Clothes are ultimately a deception. And if life originated from Adam why do we all start female in the womb? Why is female the default setting? Something doesn't add up and you're always better off seeking enlightenment on your own, instead of having it spoon-fed to you.
#7.) 'Wedding Dress Bend-Over'
Most women don't understand that marriage is slavery. A lot of people also forget--or just fail to realize--that black men got the right to vote in the United States before women of ANY color got the right to vote. In reality, outside of romcoms, too many financially disadvantaged women get lured into marriages for economic stability, something that society itself doesn't offer them. Real love, much less romantic love, has very little to do with marriage and I think that's everyone's dirty little secret. The jobs we land determine whose hand we hold far too often, and that has everything to do with a S&M mentality, and absolutely nothing to do with real love. Don't get me wrong, I've met married people that truly do love each other and I personally plan to change my last name based on love. But life changes situations, if your husband or wife developed cancer--would you stick around? When they die will you not maybe eventually remarry? If your partner was made retarded by a motorcycle accident, would you still be able to love and remain with your partner? Those are real life situations that romcoms dance over. People also neglect to acknowledge that it's possible to be in love with more than one person at the same time and there's no room for this in traditional marriage, especially for women who cannot take on multiple husbands.
#8.) 'Pink Bath Latex Pussy'
Beyond this just being a beautifully shot photograph, with the reflective pink surfaces vs the blue utilities, there's an evident grit and grime in this bathroom, a missing tile beneath the pink shower curtain, the separation between the tile in the shower stall, the bottom of the exposed foot even looks dirty. Did she fall into the bathtub?--was she pushed?--placed haphazardly? Is she in danger? Is she aware she's being filmed and/or photographed? The high heels echo the preoccupation with the Catholic School Girl fetish and the made up face at first reflects the face of the geisha and the preoccupation with the Asian School Girl fetish, but at the same time, it also recalls the made up face of Kabuki theater, then you can't help but notice the androgynous nature of this human body, this could very easily be a male in the bathtub with a latex pussy placed over his penis and pals.
And that latex pussy man, what IS that? That looks like a stylized version of what a child would draw of one. It looks like an alien, but it is the goal of so many is it not? The goal isn't getting the girl anymore, it's getting her pussy. It's disturbing. It reminds me of prostitution and porn (prostitution on film), it makes me think of rape, drug abuse, and failed dreams. Again, we see Hoppek's juxtaposition with pink and red and black. That crazy latex pussy also reminds one of those over-the-top queens, the men that sleep with other men, yet adopt the qualities of "female behavior"--the shoes, the makeup, the clothes, the speech, the sashay, this essential caricature of femininity, yet some display real disdain towards toward the actual women they are trying so hard to personify, so the latex pussy seems more like the idea of what a gay man would have of a vagina instead of what a vagina actually is.
#.9) 'Gyno Wheel Chair'
The latex pussy appears again here (as well as in other photographs) but the model looks dead here. It makes me think about motherhood, life, death, childbirth, and female sexuality completely differently. She looks like a butchered breeding cow in a slaughterhouse. And makes me recall a recent article I read that mentioned how America doesn't have enough vulva clinics.
So while it's probably easy for an American male to purchase a latex pussy, it's not so easy for an American female to get a doctor, even an ob/gyn, to properly diagnose vulva pain. And that in of itself should show the sorry state of affairs both sexes in The State find themselves in.
#.10) 'Pacifier'
Obviously a play-on for a sex doll, only rendered by an actual living woman, a real woman who is not merely purposed to only BE a sex doll. What does portraying women like this pacify exactly?--a male's sexual urges or a female's freedom from objectification? Do sex dolls prove that men will fuck anything with a hole?--is that what men want proven about them? Isn't there supposed to be more dignity in humanity?
#.11) '2 Pacifier'
Tits not as substance providers but as pacifiers for the male gaze. Pacifiers for the male in the sex act, for him to nurse upon, mimicking the bonding act of mother with child, in the effort for what?--to get a female to bond with him, to care for him as she would her own child?
#.12) 'Little Girl'
This is about sexual child abuse and how the pink thread of all things female, being helpful, loving, trusting, kind, "sugar and spice and everything nice", can forever tie a female child to the susceptibility to sexual predators that actively prey on these weaknesses to exploit them. It also touches on why your friend Joey constantly dates 19 year olds that look like they're 12 or prepubescent.
#.13) 'Obama Beach Ball'
Probably a direct jab at America, we see how absolutely miserable the model's face is even though she's holding an apparent blackface minimalist version of our president on a beautiful beach under a perfect sky. Even though Obama is basically a nice guy, we see a similar problem here as we did when voting rights were granted, we have had 44 consecutive male presidents.
I hope she wins, it's about damned time.
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