van meene
This was originally written Saturday, 19.01.2002
Ok, go dig out your copy of Weezer’s Pinkerton. That’s right, you, cool guy. I know you’ve got one. Now put on “Across the Sea” (which consequently is the best damn Weezer song ever) and set your CD player to repeat. That song will be the soundtrack for this journal entry. Why, you ask? (Other than the fact that it’s the best damn Weezer song ever). Today I headed down to the Inverleith House with Timothy, his friend Leonard, and some other girl who lives in the same dorm as Timothy, to check out a showing of photographs by the Dutch photographer Helen Van Meene. Helen Van Meene is a much noted up and coming photographer, who studied for a bit at the Edinburgh College of Art. She is known for her photographs of adolescent girls, many of whom she simply meets on the street and agree to be photographed. Though she often uses costuming, props, and poses with the subjects she photographs, the photographs at least seem to capture a large degree of the personalities and emotions of the girls. The show that I went to see consisted of a series of photographs taken while the photographer was staying in Japan.
Her work is often met with some controversy. This is due to the eroticism sometimes exhibited in the photographs. For instance, in one of the photographs in the Japan series, a girl wearing only a bra (a news clipping at the gallery noted that the model was actually 24 and that she was glad below the waist) is slouched over the edge of her bed. In another, the faint outline of a nipple can be seen through a girl’s shirt. In other photographs, which we saw in a book of Van Meene’s early work, girls are shown topless. So, some children’s protection groups claim that the photographs are exploitative at best, and pornographic at worst. Having seen some of the photographs, I’m inclined to disagree. As one news clipping noted, it is odd that our culture accepts Britney Spears and her hyper-sexualized flirtations displayed everywhere, but balks at artistic portrayals of youth which allude to some sexuality. Indeed, it seems we as a culture are able to accept the idea that it is okay for Britney to bounce and jiggle in the spotlight for the sake of commercialism and pop-culture, somehow appeased by her vows of chastity, while we are made very uncomfortable about honest, intimate peeks at the sexuality of youth, particularly young girls. I admit it, the idea even makes me uncomfortable. But it shouldn’t. The antidote, I think, to reckless, cheap sexuality isn’t to censor or block out every erotic reference. The only way that sexuality can be redefined is by forcing it to be personalized rather than forcing it to conform to a single culturally-accepted aesthetic. I think that Van Meene’s photographs, which are sometimes erotic, but definitely not pornographic, do not so much entice the viewer with the cliches of beauty magazine culture, as give the viewer an occasional peek into the secret world of the budding sexuality of these girls.
The photographs in the Japan Series are quite good in general, and seem to share a common theme. In most photographs, the eyes of the subject are either closed or averted. This is an interesting effect which is particularly evident in one photograph of a young girl leaning against a door. Her dyed-blond, wig-like hair and garish makeup, to me, seem to allude to the cultural iconography of the Geisha, and seem to suggest that she wants to be noticed. However, under the scrutiny of the camera, she looks away. I think this captures perfectly the contrast between the shyness and the craving of attention that is so linked with adolescence. To contrast that photo is a photograph of two very young girls. One looks directly at the camera and both seem to be posing, hamming it up for the camera. This boldness of youth is a great comparison to the timidity of the young girls’ older counterparts. In another photograph, a girl, clad from the waist up only in a bra, is slouched, seemingly uncomfortably, over the edge of her bed. Indeed, many of the subjects in this series seem to slouch, crouch, or hang within the picture frame. Again, I think a really great snapshot of the awkwardness of adolescence.
The backgrounds of Van Meene’s photographs are notable as well. They are often simple, and represent the everyday environment of the photographs’ subjects. In one photograph, the series’ seeming signature piece, placed at the entrance to an exhibit, the background is filled with a tree sprouting many white blossoms. In the foreground is a teenaged girl, clad in a pure white overcoat. The white blossoms and the white coat seem to denote a metaphor, perhaps unintentional. As the flowers on the tree begin to blossom, so does the girl blossom from childhood to adulthood.
Inverleith House
(0)131 248 2983
Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh, UK
An old house in the middle of Edinburgh’s Royal Botanic Gardens which houses an art gallery with a diverse range of art shows.
Timothy
A kid I met at the international student orientation at the University of Edinburgh who has similar musical/cultural tastes as myself. He’s from Albany, NY and goes to Haverford College near Philly. Reminds me of Josh if he were a scene kid.