Inspired by the work of Rei Kawakubo, Sarah Lucas and Barbara Hepworth, Florence Mann and Veronica Blagoeva study a different view on the connection between human form and clothing
Florence Mann for Lampoon online magazine
Dynamic Bodies
The story explores the limitations of the body through movement as well as the boundaries between clothes and body, dissolving gender and subverting wearability as we know it. Inspired by the work of Rei Kawakubo, Sarah Lucas and Barbara Hepworth, we are hoping to study a different view on the connection between human form and clothing.
Body limits
Where does one body end and another one begin? Is the limit of a body drawn at the skin, or does a body extend beyond its epidermis? If we both are and have a body then where does it/I end? Strange questions perhaps, although we are not the first ones to ask them.
Think about the child whose sense of a delimited body is yet not fully developed. Or about the blind person, evoked by Bateson (2000), and the stick or prosthetic with which he or she navigates his or her world. Such bodies, while limited in Euclidean space, also extend beyond themselves. The peculiar phantom limb phenomenon is exemplary here. Conversely, think about the limits that are imposed on bodies: imprisoned bodies, amputated bodies, bodies that are slowed down or held still.
The child will learn that there are limits to what one can do; the blind person will sooner or later hit upon a wall with his or her stick; and the phantom in the non-existing limb can be exorcised. The limits of the body are redrawn and delimited. Where and how—by which modes of representation, by which technologies and apparatuses, which strategies and practices—are those limits drawn, modified and performed?
Florence Mann
French photographer based in London. Having grown up South of France, her aesthetic draws on memories of the sun-bleached landscape of her own youth. With the camera she explores her own idea of ‘modern beauty’ in women, depicting their strength and sensitivity in boldly colorful images.
Veronica Blagoeva
London-based fashion stylist and a visual creative. Originally from Bulgaria, her family moved to the Middle East in the 90’s; dividing her childhood between two visually disparate worlds. The primary color palette of the former Eastern Block is still a prominent element in her work.
Credits
Photographer: Florence Mann
Stylist: Veronica Blagoeva
Choreographer: Stephanie Handjiiska
Make up artist: Verity Cumming
Hair stylist: Maki Tanaka
Talents: Alessia, Mandy, Elisa, Hris and Jade
Editorial Team
