Next up!
I saw this open call for a show in Barcelona. As one thing led to the next, I have been chosen to participate in the Black and White exhibition, opening on the 5th of November!
And this goes beyond photography. Over the years, I’ve revisited old work – in particular the part I had played in my role as a fashion photographer. Of course I enjoyed it, and yet, theres an aftertaste when I look at the pictures now.
The series of pictures for the Black and White exhibition reflects on a life prior to my HIV diagnosis. After the initial diagnosis my career as a fashion photographer came to an abrupt end. The strain of the infection and its social implications left me at a loss for sense of reason, focusing my work on writing. Over the past years I have returned to the images, and started abstracting them – destroying and overpainting – reflecting on the beauty ideals and standards I had once contributed to.
The original photo I am showing was a covershoot for an austrian fashion magazine called PENG!. The beauty concepts and perceptions of the time of production were encased firmly in the industry, and I had complied by producing these images. Adding to beauty standards without reflecting upon them. Upon revisiting the work years later, the over-sexualised aspect of such a young girl irritated me. Although I did not seek to destroy the work, I had the urge to alter it – to overpaint it, to anonymise it. Not only to reflect upon the falsified beauty-standards portrayed in the fashion industry at the time, but to reflect on my own perception and the part I had played in creating these standards.
Come and see it, starting the 5th of November at the Mrs. Toolip Gallery, Barcelona!
And heres some of that old fashion stuff for you on Instagram: #ckmbcn
Christopher Klettermayer 
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