| Katarina Radovic |
A Husband in Paris (2007)This series of photographs is a playful comment on the idea of marrying for papers, due to political isolation in economically underdeveloped countries. This was a starting point, which, during the course of its progress, acquired many private meanings. The scenario is the following: I myself took up the role of a young woman from Eastern Europe in the search of a husband in Paris, her “city of dreams“. Walking across the city within the period of a few weeks, I approached candidates asking them whether they would “marry me”. After an introductory “sniffing“, they would agree to pose together with me for a snapshot, in which we would play the role of a potential marriage couple. The aesthetic complexity of the images surpasses the strictly political aspects stretching to the romantic relationships between the possible marriage partners and the attempts of the young woman to seduce them. The selection of certain types of men (according to their look, origin, style and profession) highlights the work’s position at the intersection of private (aspirations and limitations) with the global social issue (the fictive marriage and its socio-emotional consequences). The hilarious approach reduces a certain uneasiness and explicitness of the initial idea, turning it into a light and spontaneous game of revealing the latent possibilities in human relationships, interwoven with socio-cultural differences. A young woman shows the enthusiasm for her “mission“, without camouflaging her own character, while her potential husbands present themselves and accept the game in diverse ways. The photographs were taken at the sites where we first met and thus also offer an illustration of some of Paris districts and their characters. Touching upon the idea of cultural relocation and resettlement and using the elements of the theatrical and local in my visual vocabulary, I am trying to communicate with my work on the global level. 一連の写真作品は、国家間の経済格差を背景としたビザ目的の結婚のパロディである。当初作者が抱いていたこのコンセプトは作品が展開していくに連れ、作者個人にとっていくつもの意味を持つようになっていった。作品のプロセスは、理想の結婚を夢見る東ヨーロッパ出身の女性へ作家自らが扮し、数週間パリに滞在し何人かの男性に自分と結婚しても構わないと思うかを尋ねるというもの。自己紹介の後、彼等には写真撮影に協力してもらった。撮影された写真には、あるいは夫婦となっていたかもしれない二人の姿が映る。
|
 |