Back and Blind

By Ian Hoskin

I was photographing myself for a series of work that I intended should question the way we perceived the nude in photography. The norm, when viewing a photograph of someone with
no clothing is to assume the subject is female, even when there are no signifiers. I had to try multiple times to get the composition right as I was taking the photograph 'blind.' The title, I decided, should encapsulate my intention that while looking at the image, the viewer may possibly be "blinded' by the assumption the subject was female, also the method I'd used to make the image whilst not being able to compose it, plus on a superficial level the fact that the lighting was shining through a split bamboo blind. This image was originally shot on film, the negative was scanned and is printed on Canson Baryta Photographique 310 gsm paper. Paper size 32.9cm x 48.3cm. Print is signed dated, numbered and titled on verso.