Zoe Leonard, Mirror No2 (Metropolitan Museum), 1990
© Zoe Leonard
In an interview with Zoe Leonard in 1994 she said: “I make work about what’s on my mind, what disturbs me, excites me, or confuses me, my fears, my desires. That’s photography. I point my camera at something that interests me. Then I show it to you. You literally see my point of view. You see what moves me, scares me or disgusts me.” Born in New York in 1961, Leonard is undoubtedly an artist who has dedicated her heart and soul in her quest to express and document the world from her own biased ‘point of view’. At an early age, she discovered her passion for photography. After leaving school at only fifteen Leonard borrowed her mother’s Rollei 35 and immediately she looked through the camera lens and saw an aspiring vista. Like many artists, she travelled and worked in a series of odd jobs but her art was her main focus. It became her ambition, her fervour, her life. Undoubtedly, however her experiences in different fields of work had an impact on her photography. Her jobs ranged from modelling, stripping and prostitution to being an office assistant and even a constructor worker; all of which shaped her life and her perceptions of reality, which as previously stated is what inspires her photography. For this reason it seems Leonard’s somewhat beguiling images show the complicity between photography and reality and show the special relationship to reality that photography enjoys thanks to its technical attributes. What makes her work so compelling is ironically the lack of obvious effort. Leonard wants to show the viewer what she sees, and to show them how she sees it; there are no gimmicks, no special effects, no Photoshop. We see the world as she sees it through her camera lens, which is a very natural and welcoming experience. Yet her images still possess the element of mystery or curiosity that sparks interest. She skilfully uses simple yet unfamiliar photographic angles to make the object she is photographing often look out of context when really it stands in reality as naturally as you would see an apple in a fruit bowl.
In terms of her practice, Leonard has religiously occupied the analogue technique as her main medium. This technique certainly adds to the impact of her striking black and white imagery. In an interview with the artist in the Journal of contemporary art, Leonard reveals:
“My work is absolutely grounded in a certain formal approach. These aren’t drawings. They’re not paintings. These are photographs. I want the viewer to be aware of that. That’s why I always print full frame. If there’s a scratch on the negative, I leave it there. The roughness in my prints is my way of letting the viewer into my process, the process of photography. I think that photography has been considered a poor relation to fine arts for far too long. The highest compliment you could pay a photographer is to say, “Your work is so painterly”. If I wanted to paint, I would paint. My work is about taking pictures, using a camera to observe what’s out in the world. So I present them very much as they happen in the camera: they’re not matted, they’re not framed, they’re not cropped.”
The roughness of her work is unique and intuitive. What distinguishes her photography is its ‘attitude’ they possess an almost tempestuous graininess and the unfamiliar viewpoints instantly change our idea and view of what is being portrayed. The image titled Wax Anatomical Model (Shot Crooked from above), taken in 1990 and currently on display in the Tate Modern, London is one of her most celebrated and is evidence of her unique methods and ideology.
Zoe Leonard, Wax Anatomical Model (Shot Crooked from Above), 1990
© Zoe Leonard
In this image the wax model has long flowing hair, painted lips, and a pearl necklace yet her torso is splayed open to reveal her lungs, intestine and womb. Obviously this is disturbing to look at as the wax, cut open women, lying prettily with a pearl necklace on, looks human and connotes familiarity, which can make the viewer feel as though they are almost the subject in the image. This is not to say that Zoe Leonard enjoys looking at such subjects but she understands that photographs of this nature have great facilities to create melodrama; even though in this instance it can be disturbing, it distinctively creates the air of mysticism and interest which captivates the viewer. In this case the visceral aspect of the image seems less unsettling than the fact that the fabricators have put pearls around the model’s neck. Zoe Leonard described her feelings towards her findings in the interview featured in the Journal of Contemporary Art:
“I first saw a picture of the anatomical wax model of a woman with pearls in a guidebook on Vienna. She struck a chord in me. I couldn’t stop thinking about her. She seemed to contain all I wanted to say at that moment, about feeling gutted, displayed. Caught as an object of desire and horror at the same time. She also seemed relevant to me in terms of medical history, a gaping example of sexism in medicine. The perversity of those pearls, that long blond hair. I went on with this work even though it is gory and depressing because the images seem to reveal so much.”
Leonard raises some questions about the barbaric histories of medicine and fashion with her image of the 18th century wax anatomical model. Yet the most prominent question it seems is why did the fabricators at the time find it necessary to produce such sexualized models to serve as their example for anatomical instruction?
This particular photographs in Leonard’s anatomical collection, document how the female body has been subjected, in the past and present, and also suggest the pressure and cruelty put on women to attain patriarchal expectations of beauty. Leonard’s photograph is thus laden with gender politics. Presumably, the featured female anatomical model was created by and for male doctors, which raises issues of desire and objectification of the male gaze. In discussing such issues of desire or power, it is important to note that Leonard’s lesbian identity may influence her feelings towards the female subject. The artist herself said, “Not much of my work is about love – at least so far – or sex. But being a dyke and being a woman have formed me, formed my perspective.” Her work therefore not only demonstrates feminist art but displays a personal and powerful connection between the artist and her piece. To quote Leonard, “Art is a place for me to pursue those thoughts, to make cross-disciplinary connections, in a personal way;” It seems apparent that photography is her vehicle for expression. While this reflection is already rooted in her choice of depiction, it is further expressed in the development of her images. The photograph in discussion is framed by the black edge of the negative. Her work is also about the photography itself; it too becomes a motif, part of material reality just as much as the object that it portrays. Thus it seems she has arrived at a zenith with this photograph. In today’s world, photography is digital. Yet analogue photography’s complicit relationship to the world and its objects renders her work a retrospective that has come back into the spotlight. We can conclude therefore by saying that Zoe Leonard’s analogue photography not only displays visceral interest and political purpose but serves as a unique and powerful tool for personal expression.
Zoe Leonard, Anatomical Model of a Woman’s Head Crying, 1993
© Zoe Leonard
Text: © Jennifer Angus
