Play Girl

Fashioning vintage print pornography into youthful, playful forms creates a new space in which porn invites us to do more than just look. Like playing with our food, porn play is not for self pleasure but a tool for exploration, imagination, nourishment for creativity not desire. By turning porn into agents of play, we confront the drivers of desire, & challenge the female body’s role in desire. The model no longer lounges on furniture, served up on a plate for consumption. Her new purpose pokes fun at the hungry, daring them to become aroused in her invitation to engage instead.

Popporn

ACRYLIC PAINT ON FOUND MEDIA, DIGITAL PRINT ON CARD STOCK

Captivated by the image before us, we pop one piece after another with out much care or consideration, sometimes missing our face entirely.

Upon first glance this overflowing ephemeral delight engages a sense of innocent childhood nostalgia. A salty snack encapsulated in a vintage medium invokes us to go for another until we feel satiated. Such is the invitation of “Popporn”, a delight for the eyes challenges its audience to “go for another” carefully unfurling each piece of indulgence. How many will you “pop” before you feel satiated? More or less in the bright lights of a gallery or in the anonymity of the dark theatre?

“Porno-gami” 1

FOUND MEDIA ON CARD STOCK

From object, to image to object again, “porno-gami” re-objectifies that which has been relegated to image. In re-objectifying hyper imagery, I evolve its purpose. Much in the same manner that internet memes re-contextualize pop imagery, “porno-gami” begs new questions in their evolved constructions. “Porno-gami” 1 offers a pile of body parts. Following the design of a burr puzzle, the interlocking puzzle pieces present porn models as disconnected, disoriented & disembodied objects challenging the threshold of desirability intended in the static image.

Polly Porn Star

FOUND MEDIA ON CARD STOCK, tIN GROMMETS

In removing the model from the magazine page and providing her with points of articulation, I re-imagine the image subject into an action figure I named “Polly Porn Star”. Each action figure, each “Polly,” becomes a proxy for the person who arranges her, and expresses of the identity of the player and not the identity of the figure itself. From the participant’s selection of a “Polly,” to her pose, to the voice the player gives her, “Polly” becomes an avatar for the player in the play session. In play she further loses her identity and assumes that which the player gives her. However, in this loss of identity, she gains new abilities beyond just “lying around” on the magazine page.

  • New List Item

  • New List Item

  • New List Item

Polly’s Playhouse

ACRYLIC ON CARDBOARD, VINYL STICKERS, READERS, DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY ON SMART PHONE

Polly’s Playhouse is a toy, specifically a stereoscope, but for whom? Appropriating a visual language developed for young girls & children complete with hot pink DIY stickers, the playhouse reimagines a peep show amidst 1980’s Times Square in NYC. The player accesses the “show” by scanning the QR code using their smart phone. The show takes the viewer along on an activity with Polly Porn Star (a character I created via vintage printed porn). Her adventures, such as “Polly Does Senior Portraits”, challenge the viewer to view Polly as a young girl engaged in fun life activities as herself, or as a delight served up for the pleasure of others. The Porn Star, the summit of feminine performance, and presented in the traditional medium of pornography, is re-photographed in attempt to re-visualize her image. The experience walks a tight rope begging the question for whom is Polly? Are toys & performative characters like “Polly” for children’s play or practice for their developing feminine identities to be performed for a future audience

@pollypstar

SOCIAL MEDIA INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT

Upon creating this social media account I became acutely aware of a host of dichotomies. How does one critique a cultural force that utilizes people as content without also critiquing the individual people themselves? I firmly believe that all humans should be able to live a life in whatever manner they wish without shame or judgement, which is what makes the “@pollypstar” Instagram fraught with landmines. A tool that exploits a very human need to belong and feel special also encourages whatever behavior achieves the highest level of engagement. This force drives young girls and the pervasiveness of oversexualized white beauty ideals that tend to raise to top levels of social media engagement. Girls and women with diverse backgrounds, interests and intellect show up on social media like the flat photos printed in pornography publications obscuring and flattening the real woman in front of the lens. These landmines further play out as “@pollypstar” considers the very meta question of what other Instagram accounts to follow being self conscious not to send a wrong message. Considering “Polly” is a paper action figure made of analog print pornography absurdly articulated, how might her followed accounts or the moderators of Instagram treat her content with respect to Instagram’s community guidelines? And what could this say for censorship of the body which thrives in real life but could be removed as a rephotographed image?

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