Single Cuts 111 2016

Curator: This is "Single Cuts 111," a collage by Katrien De Blauwer, created in 2016. Editor: My immediate impression is of something fragmented yet delicate. The contrast between the black and white photograph and the rough paper edges creates an intriguing tension. Curator: De Blauwer often works with found imagery, particularly vintage photographs, which she then meticulously cuts and reassembles. It’s interesting to consider her interventions as acts of appropriation and re-contextualization, playing with ideas of femininity, identity, and representation. Editor: The way the image is cropped and layered certainly draws attention to the formal qualities—the line of the leg, the textures of the lace, the stark contrasts of tone. Semiotically, we could read the gaps between the fragments as moments of rupture. Curator: Precisely. That rupture can be understood as a disruption of the male gaze. The body isn't presented as a whole object for consumption, but as a collection of dissected parts. The anonymity granted by cropping allows viewers to project themselves on the subject. Editor: And it emphasizes abstraction. Stripped of its context, the photograph becomes about pure form, texture, and the interplay of light and shadow. The monochrome palette amplifies these relationships. It focuses attention on compositional relationships and underlying geometries, evoking classical notions of beauty. Curator: But let's not forget the societal framework shaping how these images initially circulated, within beauty standards, consumerism, even historical biases embedded in those "classic" notions of beauty. By dismantling these images, the artist creates space to consider and to possibly critique all of this. Editor: Agreed. It's that visual tension – form versus subject matter that’s really key. It prompts multiple readings—a visual poetics. Curator: It is fascinating to view this piece through various lenses: how historical context meets modern visual commentary. Editor: I agree; these formal disruptions become really engaging tools for prompting multiple perspectives and challenging inherent assumptions.