The Flower Overlay series is an attempt to mask the sexual association of the female body with something recognisable as being stereotypically feminine; flowers. The flowers cover the body and face of the female, still revealing areas of the body, but overriding the image as a whole by using them as the top layer. The filters used were also an attempt to soften the overall image, to give the female figure the appearance of delicacy and tranquility before increasing these aspects even more by the addition of the flowers.
These images are influenced particularly by Linder Sterling’s collages, mainly due to her placement of flowers onto the female body. I overlaid separate images of flowers onto photos of my own face and body to try and transform the perception of the female form from sexual to delicate and feminine.
Hannes Casper’s photography focuses on the female form, but presents it in a very soft way. The posing of the subject, as well as the lighting and colours used, increases the dream-like sensation when the work is experienced. The particular use of white for the background of her images softens the sexuality that is associated with the female body, which therefore influenced my images of the female body that then have been overlaid with the flowers.
