Viscid Dreams

Viscid Dreams

Viscid Dreams explores the female form through the female gaze, looking at how beauty and femininity are presented through advertising.

The project came from my research into the female gaze and fashion and beauty advertising. I was interested in how advertising creates polished and unrealistic ideas of beauty, so I used the same visual language of glossy imagery, bold colour and carefully constructed compositions to challenge it.

I referenced fruit, food, beauty products and the more uncomfortable sides of womanhood, including periods and eggs. By presenting these things in an attractive advertising style, I wanted to blur the line between what we are taught to find beautiful and what we are taught to hide.

I developed the concept, styling, sets and visual direction before photographing the final work. The series was later exhibited as part of a VICE exhibition at the PhotoBook Café. An image from the project was also featured by Elephant Magazine, sold as a print and used as the front cover of Pretence Magazine. (see below)

Viscid Dreams is a play on the phrase ‘wet dreams’, referencing the relationship between desire, beauty and the body.