Posts Tagged ‘horse’

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

The play by Peter Shaffer, where a psychiatrist attempts to treat a young man who has a pathological sexual obsession with horses, is reminiscent of the work of US photographer Monica Stevenson she uses luxury goods such as Tiffany bracelets and Hermes Scarves on and next to equines as the focus for some of her major work.

This piece of a horse wearing a luxury scarf ‘Hermes Scarf Horse’ won Stevenson a place in the ‘Advertising photographers of America’. It makes you question the piece, such as is it a real horse? What is around the ears? and touches on the use of animals as commodities. It forces you to study the accessories in a different way, much more than if it were draped over a model.

Stevensons person artwork is around the photographing of horse, she has a whole host of beautiful images of them, running, sleeping and on the polo field on her website. Her love of these animals is amalgamated with brand such as Gucci and Hermes so well in Stevensons work.

Her photographs are sexier than most Vogue photography and they have an edge? Stevenson is toying with us, daring us to keep watching, to keep delving.

The work has almost a sadomasochistic edge to it, highlighted by the use of horse and human hair wound around Iron stirrups and leather straps, oddly enough a similar thing is depicted on this vintage Hermes scarf.

Stevenson also used bugs in her work, something that isnt instantly recognisable in fashion photography. She holds the piece up to you, as she is saying “Look at it, really take time to look!”.

What I love about her work is that it encapsulates a story in each shot, takes you into a fairytale world of Stevenson’s making, and although this world may not be a beautiful one much like the mind of Equus’s young hero, it is an intriguing one, and one that you seek to understand and return to again and again.