When we think about the impression we make on other people, it often comes to mind that if we are stripped of the opportunity to speak, we are going to be judged solely by the way we look. The way we look thus becomes an active component in people’s perception of us, and not something that happens passively and irrelevantly. Simply put, the way we carry our bodies around is also a form of communication, which uses visual codes to transgress a meaning. Sometimes these codes are hardly noticeable because they have been used so many times, that the only idea they stand for is something that is already accepted and normalized. We subtly okay those codes because they are a part of what constitutes our everyday lives, and our lives are made easier with the existence of this usualness.
Imagine if each time we saw something we would need to analyze it and make sense of it? We would barely be doing anything else apart from watching and trying to understand. For the sake of simplicity, the human mind tries to speed things up by assigning a set cluster of meaning to the earlier mentioned codes. Now that we know that these codes do exist, and that there are all sorts of meanings attached to them, I simply ask, why is there also a value attached to them?
In this video by Show Studio, we see a couple of individuals whose experience made them slightly more aware of theimportance these body codes carry in society. They speak of the urgency of being someone ‘one is’ rather than being something ‘one sees’ everywhere else. These women (and man), who call themselves studs, know that what they do with the way their bodies look is somewhat rebellious, as they “refuse to comply with traditional notions of the sexes”. Once again, it is about the power struggle, what else. Deep sigh…
I would not like to victimize anyone in particular right now (or ever), because I believe that victimizing is not fair to anyone. I simply ask, that if we compare these body codes with say, a palette of colors, why would one say that red is not okay, in comparison to purple, which supposedly is? As one of the models said, it takes an extra effort to get your mind around something you don’t understand. This beautifully shot video features beautiful bodies, bodies that matter. Why do oneself a disfavor, when one can honor beauty whichever the form it takes.
Click >> https://showstudio.com/project/studs & https://www.facebook.com/SHOWstudio for more!
SHOWstudio: Studs – Nick Knight / Simon Foxton / Bea Sweet
Concept and Direction: Bea Sweet, Simon Foxton, Nick Knight
SHOOT: Photography: Nick Knight // Styling: Simon Foxton // Hair: Lok Lau // Make-Up: Bea Sweet // Photographic Assistance: Laura Falconer, Chloe Office and Matthew Joy // Technical Supervision: Jon Emmony // Styling Assistance: Sue-Wen Quek // Make-up Assistance: Stephanie McLean // Production: Charlotte Knight // Production Assistance: Emily Bour // Editorial Assistance: Li-Yin Soh // Digital post-production: Epilogue Imaging // Runner: Ben Evans and Bojana Kozarevic // FASHION FILM: Direction: Nick Knight // Edit: Younji Ku // Audio: Music: Younji Ku; Interviews: Lou Stoppard// EDITORIAL: Interviews: Lou Stoppard
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