Don’t You Ever Show Your Face Around Here Again! | Robyn Cumming’s beguiling Lady Things photographs stare down from the walls of Latitude 53. Or at least they would if they had eyes.
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This week, Mandy and Jill venture to Latitude 53, where Robyn Cumming’s larger-than-life-sized photographs hang prominently in her new double exhibition, Lady Things/Oh, Mother.
Jill: Amid this awful weather we’ve been getting, Robyn Cumming’s flowery images provide a welcome burst of life. These are hugely beautiful photographs. Some are stylized portraits of women carefully wigged, costumed, and posed (the “ladies”), while others depict older women dressed in lace and silk, with thick trails of eyeliner streaming down their cheeks (the “mothers”). I have to say, I was quite taken aback by these images as I entered the gallery.
Mandy: All the fur and floral patterns in the background, in the clothes, and even hiding the faces of the models give this show an eclectic appearance. Half of the gallery is devoted to Cumming’s experiments with obscuring her sitters’ faces, with the other half being more about the character of these older women, looking hurt and totally vulnerable. Did you see it that way?
Jill: Definitely. Yet Cumming allows them to converse with one another pretty effortlessly by using a similar format and esthetic in both bodies of work. I don’t think any of them seemed out of place in context. I’m really impressed with Cumming’s ability to create photographs that are unreal and yet unmistakably real at the same time. She has a real eye for constructing environments that blur the line between her subjects and her subject matter.
Mandy: This show presents a bit of a dilemma for me. I enjoy the surreal look of Cumming’s work quite a lot, but it’s hard to figure out the crux of what she’s trying to do. We can see pretty clearly that these pieces are aesthetically pleasing. She uses pattern and texture in inventive ways, and there is this conversation about femininity and identity going on, but is that all we’re given here? Overall, it reads as a bit emotionally flat.
Jill: I know what you mean! I thought that this show was actually kind of esthetically flawless. I mean, who can complain about giant, wonderfully executed photographic colour portraits? But when I read the artist’s statement and Cumming’s bio, I was left wanting more; they both read as typical stock statements to me. In fact, I was sort of finding myself without a real explanation of the work in front of me.
Mandy: Which sucks, but you shouldn’t have to depend on a statement to enrich your work anyway. Call me old-fashioned, but that content should be in the work itself.
Jill: For sure. Cumming is exploring issues of femininity, gender roles, sexuality, and so on. But I don’t see her making any solid statements. Which isn’t necessarily bad — it may be that Cumming’s work is merely about presenting images in the hopes that the viewer finds aesthetic pleasure in them, first and foremost. But I think that what makes us crave a “meaning” in these works is Cumming’s decision to use such strange, often derogatory methods (fur face?) to portray these women. They’re so strange that you feel there has to be some strong, underlying message, but it isn’t clear what it might be.
Mandy: Do you think that it’s “derogatory” because hair is being used to replace a woman’s face, or because the hair looks like it’s more animal fur than human hair? This where I get frustrated with Cumming’s work: why were these specific fabrics and items used? For their weirdo-trendy feminine appeal, or for their conceptual basis? Both? Neither? And it’s not that we should 100 per cent know the answer to that question, but I want at least to feel like there was some sort of discovery on Cumming’s part that gives those items a stronger sense of purpose.
Jill: Why do you insist there was no discovery being made? I think I know what you’re saying, but just because these images don’t give us more conclusive answers, that doesn’t mean Cumming didn’t think them through.
Mandy: I don’t think I’m necessarily saying there was no decision or discovery; I’m saying that when I look at the work, I don’t get the sense there was. And, as the viewer, the work is all I have to respond to, so it needs to be in there.
Jill: Fair enough. All I’m saying is that some of these photos are enough to make a girl want to get back into the darkroom again.
Lady Things/Oh, Mother is on exhibit at Latitude 53 until Apr. 4.
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