Swedish photographer Denise Grünstein's 2009 series "Figure Out" places solitary, faceless women masked by hair in surreal, Dali-blue-skied environments or dark, simple rooms reminiscent of those found in 17th-century Flemish still lifes. The woman are positioned centrally, yet appear passive. The effect is dreamlike - women at odds with their environments, placed awkwardly, displaced and misplaced. Many images depict hair found on dining tables draped in white linen, suggesting that the hair is edible, can be consumed. But the women are also being consumed by hair their hair. If hair can be understood as something that directly shapes our looks, perhaps these images imply the contradiction of both consuming and being consumed by appearance/appearing.
Denise Grünstein's work is on view in
Different Distances: Fashion Photography Goes Art, an exhibition at Aperture Gallery from February 6–February 14, 2014.
Head over Heels, 2009
Figure Out, 2009
Female Gaze, 2009
Figurine, 2009
Headhunter, 2009
Inside looking out, Outside looking in, 2009
Tied, 2009
Video still from All Flesh is Grass. The title refers to the perishing, temporary nature of everything.
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