Artist's Statement

Taylor Auriel

My work explores the varying relationships between artistic expression, advertising, and female representation in the media. By repurposing magazine ads into multidimensional portraits, I strip them of their original context and reintroduce the subjects as compelling and thought-provoking beings.

I began making photos because I was inspired and envious of the images I saw in magazines. The lighting and perfection of beauty and fashion ads drew me in. Once I eventually developed the skills to recreate work like this I found that I wanted more. The flawless images didn’t have any depth and I wanted more from the women I was portraying, more from the photographers and models that I initially admired, and more from myself as a photographer. I wanted complexity and imperfection so I began by deconstructing magazine images to create a new reality that allowed for flaws and authenticity.

Drawing on Robert Heinecken’s Recto/Verso series in which he uses magazine images to focus on female sexuality featured and consumed in the media, I aspire to not only highlight this idea but to create a solution. I use the translucency of magazine pages to create in-camera collages that render otherworldly, complicated portraits of women. The printed material of the magazine page itself and the duality that it yields when exposed to light creates both a physical and psychological change. My goal is to present an alternative elegance and to transcend the ads and their subjects beyond their intended purpose.