Photographer and pop surrealist Dina Goldstein aims to evoke feelings of shame, anger, shock and empathy from her work.
Her Fallen Princesses series is a rage against the “happily ever after” motif… It is an ironic look at children’s parables, from Grimm fairytales to Walt Disney. By placing iconic characters such as Little Red Riding Hood in modern situations, the series became a commentary on such everyday scourges as poverty, obesity, cancer and pollution.
I don’t want to send out a negative message just a realistic one. My main message is that this world is so complex and everyone has their own challenges to deal with. What might seem ‘perfect’ on the outside is most likely not, says Dina.
Snow White becomes an unhappy mother
Cinders is an alcoholic
Rapunzel has leukaemia
In The Doll Houseis a series that plays out as a narrative, peeking into the home and marriage of the world’s most iconic dolls, Barbie, and her partner Ken. It offers a profound commentary on the transient nature of beauty, the difficulty of marriage and the importance of authenticity.
Good art creates conversation and discussion so I’m really pleased that my work has sparked some controversy, says Dina.
Margot Mifflin, author of powerHouse Books‘ Bodies of Subversion, and needlesandsins editor Marisa Kakoulas will host a panel discussion with some of the top women in the tattoo industry including Roxx, Virginia Elwood, Stephanie Tamez, and Amanda Wachob. The event is in New York tonight, and we wish we could be there.
Read Marisa’s blog post about why she was spurred on to put on an event like this here. There will be discussions about our bodies as a public space, as well as other issues being a tattooed woman – or man – raises.
Mark Leaver is a third year student studying commercial photography at the Arts University Bournemouth. Portraits are his thing. And his photography project has been created to show the beauty of facial tattoos and dispel some of the myths surrounding them.
Jack Denny
“Facial tattoos have a lot of taboos around them, due to their confrontational nature,” says Mark Leaver on why he started this project. “Unfortunately none of these views are positive, facial tattoos are associated with suicide rates, unemployment, depression and anti-social behaviour. And I can happily report that’s all dated buillshit”.
Jay Read
“Tattoos have recently become incredibly popular and are more accepted by society than ever before. There are many reasons for this, one being their endorsement through celebrity culture. There are countless people with tattooed sleeves and other bits and pieces but that was too broad and mainstream to base a project around. What makes facial tattoos so distinctive is that they are still confrontational, there’s no hiding them. There are only a select few people who make that kind of commitment and it was those people that I wanted to meet and photograph,” says Mark Leaver, about his project.
Mark interviewed each of the subjects of this portrait photographs, to find out a little more about them. These interviews have not yet been published.
“I feel that with documentary work it’s an oversight not to talk to the people being photographed, especially if they are posed portraits,” says Mark. “Candid work isn’t my thing. I try to meet people and set up a portrait in a way that naturally and authentically reveals the person’s character. I prefer the shoots where I get to know the subject a bit better because everyone has interesting stories and backgrounds. Obviously, there are some things that are impossible to communicate with an image, so the text adds to the portrait without changing it. During Touka Voodoo’s interview he told me he had a sex change operation to become a man and that the tattooing on his face, which he did in the mirror himself, represented both his masculinity and femininity.”
Touka Voodoo
A full interview with Mark, can be viewed at Huck magazine. And his work can viewed on his website, www.mdleaver.com.
Also look out for issue #7 of Things&Ink, which will feature brand new portraits and accompanying interviews from this project.
