I love the absence of color black/white, It is timeless and non season specific. - via chictopia
Grocery store shot while running errands
“All Of It Outside” By Kris Clouse 12 May 2011 PNCA (A Review of Keeping Things Inside: The Hidden Transcript of Exotic Dancers, by London A. Lunoux )
London Lunoux presented her BFA thesis work, a photo series titled Keeping Things Inside: The Hidden Transcript of Exotic Dancers, on April 26, 2011 at PNCA’s MFA Gallery. The presentation and oral defense of the work began at the early hour of 9:00 a.m., which would generally cross it off my list of potential thesis shows to take in, but seeing as London is my acquaintance, I found myself stumbling through the city’s early morning traffic. I remember finding myself amused before entering the gallery that I would be looking at a photo series situated around the industry of stripping shortly after waking up. Boobies before breakfast, I thought to myself, chuckling crudely on the inside.
I would be lying if I said that part of myself was not dreading attending London’s presentation. This was not due to a lack of appreciation for Miss Lunoux’s portfolio, some of which I have seen and find to be eloquently styled, skilled photographs, but rather the subject matter at hand. I am no stranger to the world of exotic dancers, and even less of a stranger to artistic bodies of works in all media, particularly photography, located in this culture. Instead my reluctance came from a place of wondering if London was capable of bringing some new element to the discussion. I found myself pleasantly surprised when I stepped into the gallery to be greeted with nine 30”x40” panel digital prints full of vibrant color and interesting compositions that did not play on the clichés I have come to associate with work in this subject matter.
I hurried to an unoccupied corner in the back of the gallery to strip myself of my coat and backpack, which I then placed on a chair beneath an image saturated with an almost nauseating shade of pink. The photo was of a woman naked except for ruffled booty shorts, with injured breasts, staring at her reflection in the mirror, wearing a look of uncertainty. Her nipples are covered with medical tape and there are purple bruises on the underside of her bosom, which compliment the pink walls of the room lovely. I noted the title, “Now My Tips Are Amazing”, and thought of what a remarkable job the make up artist had done on the model’s breasts [I would later find out during the oral presentation that the woman had indeed had a breast augmentation and allowed London to photograph her]. The image is powerful, poignant, and speaks to the strength of Woman, albeit in a personal and somewhat sinister way. This piece is without a doubt the most successful in the series, for me. A walk along the walls of the gallery revealed more portraits (which for me, is how they function primarily) of exotic dancers as subjects of narratives that take place both in the home and at the workplace. Some of the photos have an almost cinematic quality about them, reminiscent of a still image taken from a pivotal scene in a film. Despite the staged look some of the images have, none of the women look idealized, except maybe in some of the stripclub images, which actually works to emphasize the artificiality of the persona a woman faces as a performer in this arena.
Perhaps no piece speaks to this plasticity more than “All My Friends Are Strippers”, a portrait of the secret backstage area of the stripclub, where the dancers put on their armor. There is an enormous expanse of empty grey carpet that makes up the foreground, which might create an air of emptiness for the image were it not so well lit. Beyond are three figures, in various stages of preparation for their turn to perform. A doorway beyond bathes two women in red light, giving them a certain sexiness that is contrasted by their stiff, seemingly forced postures. This vast space has an almost seedy feel with its exposed piping and airshafts, despite how clean the room looks. Though clearly staged, this photo seems the most genuine to me as far as capturing a glimpse into the life of the exotic dancer.
London’s abstract relays that the work is concerned with “the way in which the stigma of working in a sex related occupation affects [the personal] relationships [of exotic dancers].” The artist herself has worked a variety of jobs within strip clubs—everything from a performer to club manager—and so the series is inspired by personal history from an insider’s perspective. The work deals with the stress of what the photographer defines as emotional labor (a display of sexuality per performance in character) and mental labor (overcoming stigmas as a way of enabling performance). The latter of the two concepts carry over into the dancers’ personal lives as well, affecting their relationships with family, romantic partners, and even the self.
This emotionally laborious struggle can be seen very clearly in “Like Mother, Like Daughter” (a woman sitting on a red sofa whose defeated face is washed in high contrast lighting), and “I Wish You Would Do That With Me” (a woman standing outside her bedroom where her lover lies in bed with his back to her, bathed in red light). “Like Mother, Like Daughter” personifies the secretive self-‐stigmatization that London says often comes along with the turf, so to speak. Similarly, “I Wish…” addresses the trust/jealousy issues that can erupt in relationships between dancers and their partners, particularly when the dancer’s lover does not understand that the dancing is performance as opposed to authentic seduction.
Though the photographer situates herself in two of the images (one showing a family dinner gone awry, the other showing two girls sharing a private moment, titled “I Only Tell This To Women”) she is disguised in both, and is the central figure in neither. After listening to London speak about the work, and how it was inspired by her own personal history in the arena of exotic dancing, I couldn’t help but feel like the portraits were not of her friends in the trade at all, but instead self-‐portraits of her own experiences using others as models. That, for me, was the most fascinating part of London Lunoux’s work.
(Taken with instagram)
Image series titled Keeping Things Inside: The Hidden Transcript of Exotic Dancers, 40”x30”, Photographic Prints, 2011
Dantes ad shot April 2012 #Dantes (Taken with Instagram at Dante’s)
Something’s going down around here (Taken with Instagram at My studio)
There was a fly in that ice cube (Taken with instagram)
