About The Image

In these images, Ambrogi discusses the role of female identity. Through her use of a fish-eye lens, multiple exposure, prolonged exposure and use of non-traditional vantage points, Ambrogi controls the viewer’s focus from the environment surrounding the figure, to physical features of the nude figure. By forcing the viewer to focus on physical attributes that are often typified by society in reference to women, even the most “politically correct” individual is forced to participate in the topic, willing or not. The visual relationship is further kept as one of objectification as the nude figures’ faces are obscured through motion, double exposure, movement and shadow. Use of these techniques both grant permission to the viewer to objectify the figures so that a visual commentary can be engaged and also enhances the point that these women have been made into objects in societal terms that some would consider inconsequential. ML

Patti Ambrogi

Untitled

1971

Gelatin silver print

26.5 cm diameter

Visual Studies Workshop Collection, Gift of the artist

1981:0104:0001



About the Exhibition

Movement: Selections from the First Decade of the Visual Studies Workshop is an online exhibition showcasing an assortment of over 100 pieces from working artists affiliated with the Visual Studies Workshop in the 1970s. These selected artists demonstrate the early years of a revolutionary new institution. [Read More]


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