A few months ago, I had a shoot with a very accomplished model who normally moved in the rarefied air of Fashion Week in New York or Milan. I'd eagerly awaited the chance to shoot with her, but soon got discouraged once the shoot began. What I saw through the viewfinder was the same series of carefully practiced and curated poses that I'd seen over and over when doing my pre-shoot research of her past work. The poses resulted in photographs that would work well in Vogue selling perfume or cosmetics, but simply lacked the human connection to the audience one expects in art nudes and instead provided the moral equivalent of those extremely high-end restaurants where overly-curated food creates distance rather than intimacy with the palate.
- Skilled art photography models are adept at providing not only a window into the beauty of the human body, but a view into themselves. Art photography, after all, is less about documenting reality than depicting a version of reality that evokes emotion or tells a story to the viewer.
Western philosophers have long struggled with the same questions as art models in exploring the connection between the human body and the soul. Ancient Greek philosophers like Plato or Socrates saw the body and soul as distinctly integrated--for Aristotle. the soul was not an independent entity, it died when the body died and could not exist independently. In the modern era, Episcopal priest Barbara Taylor questioned in her "An Alter in the World" the distinction made in theWestern tradition between the body and the soul--she instead saw each as an intimate and innate reflection of the other. Eighteenth century German philosopher Immanuel Kant in the same way broke with ancient Greek thought--the authority on the subject at the time--that emphasized the separate nature of the body and soul. like Taylor, Kant argued that the two were inextricably linked as one, but existed on independent planes.
- The philosophical debate has everything to do with art modeling because it speaks to what art models are attempting to do in their profession. William Blake, the English poet and painter, noted around 1810 that "The nakedness of a woman is a gift from God." Blake was reflecting on the nude's historical part in Western art, particularly the broad range of human nudity that lavishly adorned virtually every major center of religious celebration since the Renaissance. Blake undoubtedly had been influenced by Kant's ideas of the connections between body and soul.
- In Blake's world, the nude signified human beauty and human dignity; the nude's ambition was to demonstrate--in marble, plaster, and paint--the purity of the human soul and the power of what he undoubtedly believed was the greatest of God's creation. In religious terms, Blake might argue that the human body (and the soul it carries) is the only thing identified in the Bible as being "made in the image of God."
In her pictorial below, expert art model Fionna Sylvr composes her own etude that contributes to this dialogue about the body and the soul. In this series, presented in the late winter starkness of monochrome, Fiona provides a wealth of physical expression in the most simple of settings and gesture; present in the frame are only a single human body, and the last product of the year from rich fields of Pennsylvania. The weak late winter sun, provides some special highlights. The focus here is on the body, with its never ending playground of muscle and bone; light, shadow. Simplicity invites the viewer to linger on small details, and consider their meaning.
- Looking at the images, we can all find in Fiona our own humanity and we can identify with it because, at root, we are seeing ourselves. We can see the scars--internal and external--left by life's challenges, and we immediately know those same scars are ours. Both the body and soul are a canvas that life paints its history onto.
- Looking deeper, what do you see? What part of Fiona's soul is she sharing with you in each photograph? Is it memories of past pain, and loss? Is it joy, or melancholy? What do you see one her body, and how that body is presented to you? How does each image make you feel?
- The images were created through the talent and skill of model Fiona; with her background in modeling, photography, and film production, she has a world-class ability to visualize, and to communicate to an audience through a camera. Her talent for communicating both meaning and emotion through gesture and posture makes these images worthy of pausing and studying them; gaze, and think, and they will reward you.
Model Fiona Sylvr is an exceptionally accomplished practitioner of the physical and spiritual arts, creating beauty through film and photography with exceptional visualization skills. Fiona is based in the Philadelphia area of Pennsylvania.
Images and text created by Archangel Images, all rights reserved.