Mannequins are usually set behind plate glass, and on a pedestal. Therefore, a message of protectivity, and elevation of subject matter is created. Regardless, mannequins are usually isolated from us. Our interaction with them is strictly voyeuristic.
Photograph © Sindi Schorr 2008
Close Up: In this instance, Schorr gets so close that every hair of the mannequin’s bangs, brows and eyelashes are clearly defined. We are cognizant of the relationship hair has a form of seduction and camouflage. Schorr manages to use her camera to draw us in closer than we would ordinarily be comfortable venturing. A kind of intimacy is created. The smokey colored eye is especially sultry, dark and dense, with a glimmer of a bright retina. The eyelashes cast the kind of shadow that Fritz Lang used in his film noirs to convey a kind of feline-like menace. The opposite eye is obscured by the wispy bang, indicating that she is secretly looking back, studying. A kind of balance and tension is established.
Photograph © Sindi Schorr 2008
Far Away: In this instance, Schorr steps back, she explores spatial relationships, as she does, the details of the facial silhouette becomes more striking, especially the pronounced pouty lips. Schorr’s sensitivity to composition is evident, more so than the way most photographers would approach the same subject matter, (by photographing a full profile, telling the whole story). This photograph is more about what is not seen. The casement window in the background creates a nice checkerboard, which holds her back, framing the pertinent details. Equally cinematic to “Close Up” this mannequin appears to just have entered the screen, pausing, assessing the grey void, where a strange kind of silence occurs, it almost a scripted dramatic beat.
If you live nearby, please note the work of Sindi Schorr has not gone unnoticed. Ms. Schorr is showing in two upcoming prestigious exhibits…
IL Chiostro: At the Broome Street Gallery in New York City (located at 498 Broome St. just East of West Broadway in SoHo) The exhibit is open Tuesday through Sunday, from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm, March 3rd through the 15th, 2009. The Artists' Reception, to be held on Saturday, March 7th, 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm. Call for 212-226-6085 for further details.
Immigration: Community, Culture & Change: At the HP Gallery at Calumet Photo, 22 West 22nd Street, 2nd Floor, in New York City. The exhibit is open from March 9th thru 21st, 2009. The Artists’ Reception, to be held on Friday, March 6th from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm. Sponsored in part by the Professional Women Photographers
