holding up the mirror to usa empire always provokes - thus this one is true art, not just a technical achievement. thank you. guess only 13 of us gave it a 10 - oh well.
Christoph, I think it is a well thought out, powerful statement. Its as nude as nude can be on many levels, physically, emotionally and politically. I think you and your friend are very brave to tackle such a huge issue so artfully. I loved it. :)
Thanks for the crap load of responses to my entry everyone.
I knew I would stir up some trouble submitting this shot yet I was surprised to see so much positive feedback.
It only got one comment during the challenge that originally intended to offend in a personal way, but was later removed after I had contacted the person to ask him/her in which way he/she thought the photo was meant to concern a spefific polical manner, which from my intent does not. It's meant to be politically neutral meaning that it doesn't necessarily judge the torture scandal through the US regime, but ALSO all the violence, prisoner abuse, executions and torture that took place place way before the US military took over the prison.
I think that's what some people were missing... Violence as a whole, psychologic and physiologic torture, racism, humiliation- that's what this picture is about.
Anyway, the photo is acutally just a test shot for a friends art project he did for university so the whole idea of this is to be blamed on this dude (he's the guy in the photo himself). ;-)
So get this: his idea was to portray the word GEWALT which means "violence" with his body, posing nude and covered with actual swine blood in the basement of an abondend military base in the middle of the night.
I'll post the composed photo when i get back home.
It is always interesting to see the reactions of people when someone presents a photo with a political meaning, that does not fit into the viewers perfect little box of what the Challenge should contain.................When people see nudes, they think of nice, soft pictures of females in various poses. They don't think of the use of nudity to portray a Social or Political message.
And then there are those that will disagree with the message, or those that think there is no place for such a message in a forum, or those that just can't see past the bloodied reality that is todays society.
This is a classic example of some people not seeing the message, or not willing to see how important this type of photography is...........
There are some technical issues with the image which some people have pointed to, but overall, I think you should be proud of the reaction you have created..........an image I feel that many just didn't get, or weren't willing to open their mind to understand.
i think there needs to be some consensus as to what it means to give out a 1 or a 2. 59 of them! Doesn't 5 mean average? anybody's dog can shoot 3's all day long. this is above that! I swear!
I'm nitpicking here, because the photograph is great. The light is a little harsh on the subject for my taste and overall I would have preferred an (even) darker look, maybe a less lit floor and cooler tones on the ceiling. /7
Wow, even without the provocative title, this photo is disturbing -- in a good way. For me it doesn't invoke prison, however. I somehow see him as the perpetrator covered in someone else's blood (maybe it's the somewhat relaxed stance). Powerful color, exposure and theme.
I'm giving this a 10. The lighting's terrible, the composition isn't great, and the subject isn't especially artistically placed. But all of those things add up to perfectly tell the story.
Raw and confronting. Nude doesn't always have to imply soft, lovely and tender photographs. The harsh flash works very well in this case, I think. Welldone.
Nice, I like this one, both the concept and the shot. I do think this would have appealed more to me personally with a bit more "grunge" post processing look but this is nice work.
wow this creeps me right out...looks like something out of a "SAW" movie. Perhaps I would have liked it better if the person wasn't lit up so much with the light and maybe a little more off centre.
I originally reacted in a negative emotional way to this picture and regret it. I should try to stay away from commenting and voting on themes that cause me too much emotion to judge rationally and fairly. I risk misinterpreting the photographer's actual intent, too.
The colors are quite vivid. The model looks like he's been skinned alive on one side. Perhaps less of the scene and a bit more of the model, meaning closer (not more to view). :P
Wow - that's disturbing. I keep going back & forth on this one. Without reading the title or thinking about a meaning, I loved it. When I looked some more it looked like he was on a farm & I thought it was perhaps a comment on the cattle industry, and I liked it but just a little less than before. Now I read the title, and I'm feeling torn. For some reason I prefered viewing it in an abstract context, I guess because I could enjoy the light & colors despite the image's content.
Well, I guess in the end any image that makes me spend this much time on it is pretty intense photography, which I guess I should reward!
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