Jana Leo

Fotografiar sin ver. Visiones del cuerpo humano

Date: 1994

Technique: Analogue photograph, 35 mm, black and white. Composition formed by 5 panels in black foam board measuring 50 x 70 cm each, 122 black-and-white photos (7 x 5 cm each) and a wooden box lined with black material

Dimensions: 56 x 80 x 10 cm

Edition: 1/3

Es Baluard Museu d'Art Contemporani de Palma, donated by the artist

Reg. no.: 787

Not on display

Fotografiar sin ver. Visiones del cuerpo humano (1994) arose as a result of Jana Leo’s interest in researching the human condition and in this case, she focusses on herself to clarify her identity using the images of her body in the hands of others. Leo began taking photos of guests with her eyes closed, and this person would then take a blind portrait of the artist’s naked body. In several sessions held on different days – on a barely pre-prepared set comprised of a bed and atmospheric lighting – different anonymous guests told the artist how to position herself using touch and voice. In Fotografiar sin ver. Visiones del cuerpo humano¸the artist concentrates four sessions, each of them formalized on a black panel. A total of 122 analogue photos using black and white film developed by the creator and validated without restrictions just as they were taken, next to a fifth panel bearing the explanation of the project, are gathered inside a wooden box lined with velvet, reinforcing the intimate nature of the process itself.

With this mode of using the photographic medium Jana Leo redefines the photography process, the relationship between photography and the photographed person and rids herself of tradition or the established canons in order to develop the inner gaze. The raw material becomes a testimony of the action and the creator-body relationship of the model with each creator.

E.B.

Artist biography