‘Bodies that are human rather than exemplary.
Specific rather than universal.
Quotidian not divine’
The Quotidian Bodies project is an attempt to democratise beauty, to find and show the beauty of the human body in all its fleshy variety, its curves, muscles, sinews, scars, dimples, its divine mortality.
I photograph the naked body to reveal fundamental truths. To remind us of our physicality, our humanity devoid of the trappings of society, with the cultural masks removed. The project attempts to reclaim the body from the distorted lens of the media body with all its photoshopped unattainable lies, to normalise the inherent truth that we are all naked apes in our natural state.
The images in this selection are all of women. A celebration of the wild diversity of the female body. I chose the female form for this selection as I feel it has been the victim of idealisation, scandal, sexualisation and commodification. These images, I hope are none of these, but rather seek to explore and even eulogise the form of the body, naked, vulnerable, and proud.
These images are also a dialogue between the body and photography. The camera has been trained on the naked body almost since the invention of photography, we might argue that it is this medium alone that is most responsible for framing our perception of the body. I have been inspired by the photography of the 20th century while trying to find ways to exploit new technologies, digital photography and editing, a classic eye with a twist of the contemporary. Some of these images were shot in sections and stitched together in post-production, to allow me to make large scale prints. A process that would be impossible with analogue technology.
‘To talk about gender without reducing it to sexuality or eroticism. To talk about physicality without prejudice. To position the body within the arts without cynicism, with respect and a celebration of diversity.
The human body is, after all a promise of sanity’
Marina Warner.
About Tobias