(Re)Composing Bodies - Giovanni Bortolani's Fake Too Fake

Cate Blouke — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 12:30:00 +0000

Giovanni Bortolani, from the Fake Too Fake series

Using some seriously inventive (and at times disturbing) photoshop, Italian artist Giovanni Bortolani has created a series of photos about the composition of the human form. While the image above suggests a relationship between the body and the organic by superimposing a leaf skeleton on a man's back, most of Bortolani's photos in the series explore bodies in terms of that which is "fake" or constructed. The images in Fake Too Fake are jarring, but they ask us to consider what we're doing to our bodies in this age of plastic surgery and diet pills. NSFW (and somewhat gruesome) material after the jump.

Giovanni Bortolani, from the Fake Too Fake series

Though Joseph Ayoub from White Zine (a website about digital arts) argues that Bortolani's images "can sometimes be too trashy," I think that many of them make interesting and complex arguments about visibility and identity. Juxtaposing male and female, black and white, inside and outside, Bortolani questions how identity is constructed or shared. What is the relationship between inner self and outer appearance?

While the images might be rather risque for some classrooms, it would be an interesting exercise to ask students to come up with captions for these images, or to treat them like advertisements with slogans. The solitary, brooding model is reminiscent of the Calvin Kline underwear ads, and the arguments these images make would certainly fit the context of celebrity, body image, sex, drugs, and rock and roll. I can imagine several of these images as strikingly effective anti-drug advertisements which wouldn't be too far off from the scare tactics of current campaigns. Of course, that could also open up a conversation about rhetorical fallacies, but the images are unquestionably effective in terms of getting our attention.

Unfair advantage?

erinhurt — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 03:26:07 +0000

The Human Rights Campaign's Daily Newsletter recently spotlighted an article in The New York Times about Michelle Bruce, a 46 year old politician in Riverdale, GA.

As the paper reports, "Bruce is battling a lawsuit by an unsuccessful opponent who claims she misled voters by running as a woman." Of the four candidates that ran for a City Council seat, Bruce received the most votes. The third place finisher, Georgia Fuller, followed with her lawsuit. In explanation, she claims that "voters in Riverdale tended to favor female candidates, particularly if they were incumbents" and her lawyer claims that it gives Bruce an "unfair advantage."

This lawsuit not only reeks of sore loser-ness, but also flagrantly dismisses Bruce's choice of gender. Fuller's claim also ignores the ways in which Bruce chooses to present and label her body and instead imposes her own biologically-based label. I find it ironic, however, that Fuller argues that Bruce gains an advantage by her adopted gender. I would argue that Fuller's ability to file the lawsuit in the first place challenging Bruce's chosen gender indicates that she holds her own kind of advantage.

viz. - transgender

(Re)Composing Bodies - Giovanni Bortolani's Fake Too Fake

Unfair advantage?