It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.
– Henry David Thoreau
Ah, to happen upon a blemish of beauty or the sequence of a scar, glimpse a twist of mottled gourds or touch a figure out of reach. Behold the garnet stain of cuts or tear marks of a cheetah. Weave a delicate web for tiger’s eyes and knot the teeth of shark. Spy the lap of inky waves lure the lapis sky. In a slant of moonlight, we cast a spell – his dreads as black as tourmaline, my strands of gold unlocked. Flesh upon flesh, we tangle – our comet in the stars.
I’m really just using the mirror to summon something I don’t even know until I see it.
– Cindy Sherman
For four decades, photographer Cindy Sherman has used her cherubic face (and body) as a blank canvas to explore the art of transformation. Inspired by Hitchcock and Antonioni in the late 70s, her black and white “Untitled Film Stills” (of herself) depict fictional scenes of women stalked by her camera. Sherman has turned herself into biker chicks and killer clowns, victims and a Goya painting, fairy–tale characters, aging film stars and a lactating Madonna, Botoxed grandes dames and centerfolds. In 2011, one image from her “Centerfolds” series (1981) of a young woman lying on the floor clutching a personals ad sold at auction for $3.9 million, the highest amount paid for a photograph at the time. While her images imply a narrative, they do not represent her fantasies nor are they self-portraits. Sherman uses herself “because its simpler.” In the 80s her work featured gross images of body fluids as an attack against the inflated art market and prices paid for the work of “boy painters”. In the 90s she combined mannequin limbs with explicit accessories in her X-rated “Sex Pictures” to challenge censorship issues. In 2016 she created a private account on Instagram to experiment with the deception of selfies, a mode she shuns as “vulgar”. In 2017, she amassed tens of thousands of followers when she took her account public to reveal her iPhone “plandid” portraits i.e. planned candids, a social media phenomenon. To date, the chameleon artist has reinvented herself in over 500 photographs. Shapeshifting – seeing for you to see.
All shape-shifters do not morph into vamps or vampires, slasher babes or caricatures of art historical paintings. Perhaps nature excels in this realm of creepy beauty and camouflage. Many creatures practice the art of shapeshifting with alarming flare like butterflies that pose as wasps. The wily octopus discovered off the coast of Indonesia, mimics its background environment by changing the color and texture of its skin. It can also impersonate 13 other (mostly poisonous) species like lionfish, sea snakes, jellyfish and sea anemones. And if caught, octopuses can lose arms and regrow them. To startle predators, cuttlefish also mimic their environment by altering the pigments of their skin to change how it reflects the light. Referred to as cross-dressers, males can imitate females to sneak past other males to mate with the females. It’s all in what you see.
I allow myself to fail. I allow myself to break. I’m not afraid of my flaws.
– Lady Gaga
At 31, the ultimate shape-shifter Lady Gaga continues to reimagine herself with elaborate costumes, inhabiting every persona she steps into. “Gaga once described herself as ‘a show with no intermission,’ but it might be more accurate to view her career as a glorious series of overtures; her curtain is always rising.” Marilyn Minter’s luscious photos of Lady Gaga for the New York Times Magazine (10/3/18) combine the sensibilities of both artists. On the way to stardom, the glamorous transformer pared down her birth name Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta to the title Lady Gaga “to turn herself into an event.” In the new Bradley Cooper version of A Star is Born, Lady Gaga transforms into a stripped down version of herself. Like her character Ally, she had been told she had the voice, the right sound – but not the right look. So wrong –
Reborn as a movie star, Lady Gaga shapeshifted once again for the 25th Annual “Women in Hollywood” celebration last month. A sexual assault survivor at 19, who lives with chronic pain, she chose to depart from the glamor of Hollywood and donned an oversized men’s suit made for a woman. “I wanted to take the power back. Today I wear the pants.” Obsessed with the art of masquerade, she is also a collector of iconic objects from famous personalities – acquiring, remixing and reinventing. But rather than acting, she claims the performance is the reality. Shapeshifting!
It doesn’t matter if you blur the lens or tilt the mirror – sharpen the focus or reverse reflections. It matters what you envision between the story and lines.
Like splices in the fluid movement of a film, a true shape-shifter dwells among the stones and tides. This Sunday at 2 am as time shifts backwards once again, I’ll slip into the blackness of the night to twine the tourmaline and gold. First stop our sacred rock and creatures of the deep. To the lyrics of my siren song, I’ll trace the scar across the muscles of his shoulder – and the sinew only I can see.
Again, your words affect me where I have no words. Connecting with you is always a spiritual experience. Thank you, Martha.
Reinventing becomes redesign, then grows into recycling the spiritual energy, as memory and forward motion. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
As usual, I’m fascinated by how seamless you infuse the metaphor with factual information. After each blog entry, I learn something new – an artist, an environmental fact, a social phenomenon. This entry, where electropop meets ‘The Blue Planet’, is a gem.
I love the Thoreau quote at the beginning of the post – and the idea that one can shape-shift as a means to reclaim the narrative. Fascinating – this is one of my favorites. Thanks, Martha!