Ideal or Idea of Her

 

For several years, Anna Marchlewska has been working on femininity, particularly through her project "Les Amazones," where she photographed over two hundred women with extraordinary life paths.

 

Inspired by ancient statues and works of artists like Ingres, Rubens, Titian, and Rodin, the project "IdéElle" stages women in their intimacy. The photographs become an ode to femininity and its iconographic representations: the bride, the mother, the mistress, the virgin, the Venus... A play of transparency, sensuality, and ambiguity between the presumed innocence of white and the barely veiled nudity.

 

In Anna Marchlewska's project, intimacy first refers to bodily intimacy, linked to cultural norms, social traditions, and educational systems. The photographs also highlight modesty and the intimate life that is kept jealously and secretly. Nature, on the other hand, is associated with the intimacy of consciousness, the need to be the owner of one's thoughts, feelings, and emotions, without being unmasked by a simple glance.

 

The series "IdéElle" also serves as a denunciation of society's contradictory perception of the female body, with imposed beauty standards. Nude bodies today are both desired objects and victims of censorship. While the Louvre Museum overflows with nudes, some galleries and social media platforms avoid displaying artworks that emphasize certain body parts. Meanwhile, unrestricted access to pornographic websites on the internet persists. The project delves into an archaeology of the present to critique and analyze today's symbols.

 

The photos encourage a dreamlike transition from the real world to a meditative universe. This invitation to inner exploration leads to multiple worlds, evoking nature. Female bodies superimpose onto wintry and misty landscapes, allowing for a cathartic experience of their condition and a quest for elusive freedom.

 

The series "IdéElle" was exhibited at the Salon d'Automne in October 2019, then at the Salon Comparaisons in February 2020, and during the "Mona Lisa Tapa Tout Dit" exhibition in Tahiti in October 2020.