Find a contemporary practitioner of photo-conceptual portraiture whom you admire and provide your own review and commentary.
Challenge (with great apprehension) accepted!
Head Shots by Kaija Straumanis
Artist: Kaija Straumanis
When searching for photo-conceptual portraiture on the internet, the overwhelming majority of material one finds falls into one of two categories: ethereally-posed, partially-nude dancers with perfect faces, or close-ups of extremely wizened faces. I like to think of it as Beauty Alternatives 1 & 2.
This gets redundant and derivative rapidly. However, it does make the interesting and original work stand apart. Torn between two artists, I have chosen to address them both to the best of my abilities.
In part 1, we have Kaija Straumanis and her series aptly entitled “Head Shots”. I was initially drawn to them because they are not pretty, at least not in the boring made-over/manufactured sense. Secondly, I found them they are funny – or so I thought upon my first viewing.
The series is comprised of self-portraits of the artist in seemingly average places and poses which are made exceptional by the various objects colliding with her head. In most of the photos, she stares straight into camera, and in all the portraits, her face is neutral. It is the one picture in which the artist was not smiling that led me to question whether or not I should find the photos all that amusing.
First of all, props to her for being able to hold her head still while blunt objects sail at her face, repeatedly. I can see in my mind’s eye the slow motion smoosh as the ball makes contact, hear the sharp ping, feel the sting of the textured plastic. In fact, probably anyone who survived North American school systems can commiserate, having all been forced to take gym and consequently participate in a game of dodgeball. I feel like that is why this image is so successful. It is nostalgic and empathetic, while doling out a huge hit of schadenfreude.
The rest of the images follow this trend, strawberries sail, boots fly and Easter eggs float, all to my amused chuckling. That is until I viewed an image of Kaija being struck on the brow with the spine of a book. She grimaces, her arms tensed and for the first time, the viewer gets the sense she is actually experiencing pain. In the other images, we get the impression that gravity has stopped and time frozen, lending a surreal element to the photos. In contrast, this photo felt real. It made me uncomfortable and it made me wonder for the first time, who was throwing these things at her and why? It made me go back and rethink my previous impressions. The glass breaking across her face wasn’t so funny anymore, nor the glass scraper.
In brief, prolonged examination of Kaija’s work suggests that the initial impression of comedy and wonder that struck me upon viewing her portraits, is only a part of her intended message. Perhaps, she also sought to provoke a secondary reaction which questions what we find funny, causing us rethink our views on violence. I think as a whole, the series is highly successful, and when viewed from dodgeball to book, the increasing sense of concern I feel for her delivers a very important message on physical abuse.