P
hotography is
often
described as
an act of looking. But for artist Elizabeth Waterman, the more interesting
question is
what
happens
between the
person
behind the
camera, the
person in
front of it and
the image
they create
together.
Waterman’s
practice
moves
through
portraiture,
performance
and
constructed
imagery, exploring questions of identity, authorship, collaboration and perception. Her photographs often begin with a person who is already performing in some way, whether professionally, socially or simply through the act of being photographed and consider what happens when that performance becomes part of a collaborative image-making process.
That interest has shaped projects including MONEYGAME and Candyland, as well as her newest body of work, Propulsion.
Waterman’s MONEYGAME project took her into strip clubs across five U.S. cities. While the subject matter naturally carries associations with sexuality and spectatorship, the
photographs are ultimately concerned with something broader: how women construct images of themselves, how photographers interpret those constructions and how meaning changes when a subject actively participates in the making of her image.
That collaborative relationship is equally important to Candyland, Waterman’s photographic project featuring female adult film performers.
Rather than attempting to distinguish a supposed “real” person from a professional persona, Waterman is interested in the ways identity can be performed, constructed and authored. Her subjects are not simply being represented; they are participants in the creation of
the image.
The resulting photographs are highly considered and visually constructed, creating a space where performance and authorship can coexist. The work invites viewers to think about who controls an image, how a person chooses to present herself and what the photographer contributes to that presentation.
For Waterman, that exchange is part of what makes portraiture compelling.
The camera does not simply record a person. It changes the relationship between the people involved. The subject knows