Weekend Portfolios17.11.2012
Exhibition
Berlin : Bettina Rheims
Gender Studies
http://lejournaldelaphotographie.com/entries/8952/berlin-bettina-rheims-gender-studiesCamera Work presents the exhibition "Gender Studies" by Bettina Rheims. Focusing again on transgender, in 2011 the artist created a fascinating portrait series of 25 people who evade categorization of being male or female.
To see and show people in the manner people portrayed see themselves – Bettina Rheims links her humanly approach with her own artistic style and created with »Gender Studies« an impressive series that is of high social aspiration and essential meaning. At the same time it strikes with its atmospheric aesthetics. The project which was initially thought as a call on Facebook for people who feel »different« evolved for Bettina Rheims in an intense project with young transgender that fascinated her by their androgyny and transsexuality. The result presented in the form of large size photographs equals an artistic study of people who act beyond normative and partly stereotyped classifications of gender. It is moreover the exchange between the gender and mood of the portrayed that gives them a sort of freedom within our society, however, the viewer is often confused and at the same time fascinated by that.
