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chwartz used his own body as subject, often invoking stereotypes. “I wasn’t comfortable with the middle ground because I was in the middle ground,” he explains. “So there was me in a lavish gown, white gloves, and lipstick and then there was me in men’s underwear in front of a refrigerator, drinking from a carton with milk running down my face.” With this project, Schwartz joined a long list of Pratt photography students, alumni, and faculty who use their own bodies—and the bodies of others—to document one of the most universal of human urges: the desire for self-determination. In the process, these photographers point to the places where individuality diverges from societal expectations, revealing blurred lines and boundaries. The late Robert Mapplethorpe, B.F.A., ’70, is the alumnus perhaps most famous for pushing the envelope in this regard. Early in his career, Mapplethorpe photographed his vast circle of friends and acquaintances, including artists, composers, and socialites. He also photographed the stars of pornographic films and members of the gay and sadomasochistic communities, revealing sides of his subjects that were rarely seen outside of their inner circles. As Germano Celant wrote in the catalog Robert Mapplethorpe and the Classical Tradition, which accompanied the 2004 Deutsche Guggenheim exhibition of the same name, “Eros dominates the Mapplethorpe’s haunting Self-Portrait, 1988, taken about a year before his death, is world, and the photographs of Robert Mapplethorpe a more somber portrait of the artist. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Gift, The glorify its power and multiplication … they exalt it for Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, 1993. © The Estate of Robert Mapplethorpe. the plurality of its expressions, its irregular, diverse movements and the disorder it provokes in the redo of his prom shot, looking handsome and happy in a tuxedo, identities of individuals.” with his arms wrapped around his gum-chewing girlfriend. The frank treatment of sexuality, sexual orientation, and These images, assembled for his senior project at Pratt, led to gender transition may seem extreme to some, but a closer look his first solo show, in 2005, at Schroeder Romero Gallery, then may reveal something to which most can relate—a search for located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
“ So much of the art built around gender expression and sexuality is so dramatic and painful, but it can also be funny and ironic.” identity. The work of Evan Schwartz is one example. The testosterone required to bring his body in line with his selfimage gave Schwartz the sense that he was reliving adolescence, so the photographer began “Reclaiming Puberty,” a series that documented his second passage through this awkward phase. After undergoing a double mastectomy, Schwartz restaged typical childhood scenes like playing in the bathtub and having a birthday party with friends—this time as a boy. He employed humor to avoid cliché. “So much of the art built around gender expression and sexuality is so dramatic and painful, but it can also be funny and ironic,” says Schwartz. For one of the final photographs taken for the series, Schwartz shot himself in a 16
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Other artists, such as Pratt photography instructors Sarah Van Ouwerkerk and Julie Pochron, have taken on the subject of women’s self-determination in works that pose provocative questions about female bodies and the dynamics of physical and social power. By its very nature, Van Ouwerkerk’s series Female Bodybuilders, with its unflinching representation of hypermuscular women, confronts the notion of “the weaker sex.” Inspiration came in the early 1990s when Van Ouwerkerk was photographing a teen for Scholastic magazine—the girl’s mother happened to be a bodybuilder. Intrigued by the power and strength represented by the sculpted physique, Van Ouwerkerk began to document variety shows featuring dances and skits designed to introduce women bodybuilders to an audience outside of the competitive arena.