Matthew Cusick’s Map Collages Are Portraits Of Women Under the Yolk Of The Male Gaze
Months ago I posted up a series of Matthew Cusick’s map portrait collages. These portraits are from his latest series called, ‘The mind Is Its Own Place’, which is presently on show in New York. Like his previous map portraits each image is derived from old scene et types postcards that often portrayed women as colonial subjects, subordinate to the European male gaze. The maps Cusick uses to illustrate these erotic portraits refer to the the specific countries that colonized the land in question, they give his collages an historical, geographical and cultural dimension.
I like them for what they are on an aesthetic level but frankly am more interested in the choices he made. Why did he choose an Algerian prostitute, a Polynesian temptress, an Amazonian, a porn star and a Nazi filmmaker for his series? What is the connection between a woman from an indigenous tribe in the Amazon basin and a porn star who committed suicide at 21? I’ll never know. Best to just admire the work.
If you’re in New York between now and the 6th October, 2012 you can see Cusicks work at The Pavel zoubok Gallery, 533 West 23rd Street.
Via Design Boom
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