Contemporary Portrait Photography 2019
Dafna Steinberg
My work has spanned a variety of mediums, including photography, video, collage, installation and performance. I work with themes that relate to the experiences of women and the fragmentation of the female body. For the past five years, I have made a number of collage series using mainly vintage paper and materials about interactions between men and women and how these interactions play out in building relationships and understanding. They have also acted as an emotional response to the current political and cultural climate, focusing on the objectification of the female body. The works cover reproductive rights, sexual assault and continuous attacks on a woman's right to be autonomous.
Recently, I have returned to photography with a series of self-portraits entitled La Belle Fleur Sauvage. It is a series about my experience with being a fat woman, something that has formed a major part of my identity. I wanted to explore ideas around comfort and personal intimacy. The settings of these photographs are taken in both private spaces and spaces that are somewhat public, and my body goes from clothed to nude, with varying degrees of coverage. I want the viewer to reflect on their own reactions to each image and to question how they truly feel when looking at a person comfortable in a body that is not conventional.
Untitled (Hotel Room, Richmond, Virginia)
Digital Photographic Print, Leica V-Lux 5
10” x 15” print / 15” x 20” framed
2018
$500