A portrait against white: close-cropped hair, an oversized striped shirt slipping off both shoulders with one enormous cuff turned back at the front, a chain-link necklace, a matching link earring, a small metal clip in the hair. One hand is raised to the jaw, a ring on the middle finger. The eyes have rolled fully back, so the picture presents two blank whites where the gaze should be.
Everything in the frame is a product. The shirt, the chain, the earring, the clip, the manicure are all items that can be ordered, and the picture's work is to make them desirable. What has been done to make it interesting is to remove the sitter's sight — to convert a fashion portrait into an image of trance, possession or unconsciousness. The objects are luxury goods; the face has been made to look as though it were somewhere else entirely.
It is worth being precise about the cost. Rolled eyes are a very old sign, and they meant ecstasy, prophecy and death long before they meant styling; borrowing the gesture renders an advertisement briefly sublime at the expense of the person performing it, who has been asked to appear absent so the objects can appear present. She is, in the strictest sense, no longer regarding us. The photograph is beautiful, expertly made, and quite unembarrassed about which of the two — the woman or the chain — it has chosen to keep in focus.
A portrait against white: close-cropped hair, an oversized striped shirt slipping off both shoulders with one enormous cuff turned back at the front, a chain-link necklace, a matching link earring, a small metal clip in the hair. One hand is raised to the jaw, a ring on the middle finger. The eyes have rolled fully back, so the picture presents two blank whites where the gaze should be.
Everything in the frame is a product. The shirt, the chain, the earring, the clip, the manicure are all items that can be ordered, and the picture's work is to make them desirable. What has been done to make it interesting is to remove the sitter's sight — to convert a fashion portrait into an image of trance, possession or unconsciousness. The objects are luxury goods; the face has been made to look as though it were somewhere else entirely.
It is worth being precise about the cost. Rolled eyes are a very old sign, and they meant ecstasy, prophecy and death long before they meant styling; borrowing the gesture renders an advertisement briefly sublime at the expense of the person performing it, who has been asked to appear absent so the objects can appear present. She is, in the strictest sense, no longer regarding us. The photograph is beautiful, expertly made, and quite unembarrassed about which of the two — the woman or the chain — it has chosen to keep in focus.