For my final project I chose to create a composition that represented one of my good friend’s experience stripping. She is quite a sensual person, even in her day to day also most everyone she meets is attracted to her. In addition, she possesses a regal quality, on some occasions even teachers have ventured to give her nicknames like Duchess. Through the body language of the piece I represented these aspects of her personality. Her nudity relates to striping but also alludes to her fierce and ballsy personality, the industries raw and sometimes crude nature, as well as the vulnerability that is involved in her work.
Stripping in its self isn’t necessarily a social issue, however the stigma around it and the way society views people in the industry is at large the issue. Many times my friend’s relationships have been greatly affected by people’s perception of her work. Boyfriends don’t like it so much, even her sister would tell her she was bringing shame to the family when she would leave at night. For this reason, I added the splatters of black ink around her and decided to work only with black ink. These decisions highlight to harshness that stigma around sexuality presents and strength she embodies to have kept doing what she needed and wanted to do to support herself.
The composition itself is large and rendered on multiple layered sheets of tracing paper. Both of these elements represent fantasy as a key component in stripping. She talks to men, assessing their deepest, darkest, and naughtiest desires to help entice them into paying for dances with her. For every person she is a new girl and new desire, in essence when she is in the club she is acting. Each tracing paper represents the compiled fantasies she embodies, that layered create her persona in the club. The large then life size of the piece further emphasizes the notion of fantasy.
Lastly, another component of this piece is her hair, I made it cover her face to highlight the reality and importance of anonymity in her work. Whether it is using fake names and stories to deter men at the club from stalking her, or lying to friends, family and acquaintances about what she does.
