The Female Body

The combination of the female body and the flower creates a visual yet contrasting link between the two subjects; one sexualizes the flower by using it as a covering for the vagina and butt, the other desexualizes the female body by comparing it to the fragile and innocent structure of a flower. The purposeful placement of the flowers onto the bodies was intentionally done to increase the crossover link between sex and delicacy. 

Linder Sterling is also a strong influence towards this series of images, in particular her collages of women and flowers. Sterling’s collages are of women, either completely naked or wearing lingerie. The flowers were then placed on top of the women, specifically over the ‘sexualised’ areas of the female body; the breasts, vagina, butt, and some over the women’s faces. From exploring the connection between flowers and the female body, Sterling’s work threw both of those aspects together in quite a crude way, showing the effects flowers have on the nude female form. 

From examining the work of Sterling, it was made clear that the images being collaged over were of women in already sexual poses, making the overall impact of the work have an added level of sexualisation to them. For ‘The Female Body’ series I wanted to minimise the sexuality and attempt to use the flowers as a way of doing this – by adding a delicate and fragile flower to the image of a nude woman, the female body would be seen as something of the same description.