The Gender of Gesture

This body of work sprang forth from an interest in gestures considered decidedly male or female in American culture.  Beginning with acculturated reactions, like a woman putting her hand to her chest to hold her shirt in place before leaning over a counter… or a man bringing his knees together to catch something in his lap while a woman may spread her knees to catch the same object in a skirt… and moving to role play reactions as models acted out what it was they saw the other sex do during the day.

People were asked to visit the artist’s studio where they would be photographed in an outfit of their own choosing.  Then, subjects would change into clothing of the other gender and again pose for images.  Almost always, makeup of some kind was applied to the subject.  Men and women dressed in drag and began to act out what it was they felt in this state.  A video camera captured the transformation as well as the still camera.  The images seen here are a small sampling of this experiment.  The experiment is still active and anyone wanting to participate may contact the artist.