Karen Safer – Togo Voodoo Mother

Description

Artist Statement

What is beauty?
. . .but a subjective assessment of parts arranged in a manner that can affect individuals differently – the arrangement can either create something of uncommon beauty or something repugnant. Culture instructs on how to define beauty. In one culture, lipstick can be perceived as a beauty enhancement, while in another culture, possibly something shameful. Rings around the neck can be painful or beautiful, paste applied to faces for beauty and erotic stimuli are uncommon for Westerners, but not for Atlantic and SE Asian cultures.
I have been a photographic artist for many years, always in search of the “beautiful,” whether in nature or manufactured. Trying to find the “uncomfortable” in beauty was a challenge. I looked to “non-Western” images that might be seen as uncomfortable, but beauty is subjective, so not easy to identify as uncomfortable. I’ve chosen images from different cultures that are exotic to me and illustrate my interpretation of “uncomfortable beauty.