/Cut Julia Andrews-Clifford Before the visual trend for ‘porno-chic’ in contemporary advertising and especially fashion magazines like i-D, Vogue, Nylon and W Magazine, early cinema was intrinsically linked to pornography. Victorian ‘Peeping Tom’ dioramas and stereoscopic cards preceded the first erotic films made immediately after the advent of the moving image in the 1890s.

From the very beginning, voyeurism, money and power linked the film and pornography industries, as it still does with the US grossing an estimated $10-$13 billion from adult entertainment. Historically this has centred around the predilections of the ‘male gaze’. My manipulations with collage seek to both investigate this ‘gaze’, offer up an alternative ‘female gaze’ and also subvert the whole notion of who is looking at who … to disrupt gender perceptions, and reappraise how we view images of women.

The Picturegoer magazines from the 1950s came at the height of the Hollywood Studio System when access and control over stars’ personal lives was unprecedented … Voyeuristic fascination, partly fuelled by magazines such as Picturegoer in the US and Film Revue in Germany with their ‘through the keyhole’ style reports gave a kind of permission for people to obsessively dissect stars’ lives; a theme I interpret through direct cutting of the images, disrupting the easy familiarity of these pin-ups and broadening the palette of gender representation.

The search for ‘the inside story’ is at the heart of my work, and especially the Picturegoer and Behind the Scenes series where pictorial interference shakes us from visual complacency and our casual consumerism.

‘Porno-chic’ In the 1980s Helmut Newton took fashion photography to the edge of pornography with his photographs of naked Amazonian women—arguably from which it never really returned. Newton claimed to be a feminist because he said that he loved women and photographed them as powerful, dominant and sexy. However feminists of the time accused him of cold voyeurism. This debate inspired my anti-advert Don’t Look Now. In the case of the ‘Saint Laurent’ double-spread I saw great example of this mixed message: the model is ‘on the slab’ yet powerful, objectified yet with agency, ‘looked at’ yet looking. My photomontage creates a double movement in this piece—that attracts yet repels.

Psychoanalytic film theory Laura Mulvey’s ‘Narrative Cinema and Visual Pleasure’ 1975 introduced the concept of the ‘male gaze’ in film theory. Adopting the language of psychoanalysis, Mulvey wrote how women were characterised by their “to-be-looked-at-ness” in cinema. In this tradition woman is “spectacle”, and man is “the bearer of the look”.

Her now infamous essay analyses Hitchcock’s use of disembodying his women actors, objectifying them and dissecting them through the use of quick editing and close-up camera shots. The medium of photomontage is always an act of dismemberment and Push-Up and Spill reflect this.

the blackShed gallery t. +44 (0)1580 881247

e. mail@theblackshedgallery.org.uk w. theblackshedgallery.org.uk

Redlands Lane, Robertsbridge, East Sussex TN32 5NG

Julia Andrews-Clifford

17 June - 29 July

1. UNDERWIRED 60x60cm £350

2. HIS & HERS II 120x180cm £1450

3. HIS & HERS I 120x180cm £1450

4. SPILL 60x85cm £650

5. PUSH UP 60x85cm £650

6. THE SEVENTH VEIL 45x60cm £245

7. INSIDE STORY 45x60cm £245

8. BACKSTAGE 45x60cm £245

9. BEHIND THE SCENES (No.s 9 - 14) 25.5x25.5cm £95

10. BEHIND THE SCENES

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14. BEHIND THE SCENES

15. EVERYDAY ICON 45x60cm £250

16. MODERN LOVE (BRAZILIAN WAX) 45x60cm £250

17. VOLCANO HEAD 60x85cm £575

18. OVA YOU 60x60cm £350

19. DON’T LOOK NOW 120x180cm £1550

20. PICTUREGOER (No.s 20 - 31) 22.5x30cm £95

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PRICE LIST

JULIAANDREWS-CLIFFORDPR.JuliaAndrews-CliffordhasworkedinthecreativeindustriessincethelateninetiesasapartoforganisationssuchastheBritishfilminstituteandtheMuseumofMovingImage,NewYork.Thereforeitisnosurprisetofindadepth,andawarenessofthefunctionofimagesinherartworkthatveryclearlyhasitsrootsinfilm.HoweveritisinthismomentofsocialuncertaintyandtheageoftheFacebookmemethatAndrews-CliffordhasturnedherattentiontopullingapartfilmandimagerynotonlyanalyticallybutliterallyinherfirstsoloexhibitionatTheblackShedGallery.Andrews-Cliffordmakesphotomontagewithaclean,confidentintention.Thegraphicqualityofherworksclearlyderivesfromtherippingoftextandimagesfromadvertising,fashionmagazinesandvintagepublications.Butwhiletheprocessmaybedestructivetheresultiscrisp,portrayinganunderlyingintentionthatgoesbeyondasimplesubversionofhersources.Andrews-Clifford’spractisehasgrownfromherinterestinpsychoanalyticfilmtheory.Initselfquiteanesotericareaoffilmcriticism,howeverit’srelevancenotonlytofilmbuttomanyaspectsofmodernlifeisrevealingoftheunderlyingsystemsthatdictateourbehaviour.MostsignificantlyforAndrews-Cliffordinourrelationshipwithadvertising.SincethemiddleofthelastcenturytheuseofhighlysexualisedimageryhasbeenusedasaverysuccessfulmeansofsellingwhichAndrews-Cliffordgrappleswithinherpractise.Drawingmuchofhersourcematerialfromprintadvertisementsandeveninstallingherownsubvertedversionsoverbillboardsasstatementguerrillaartwork.DespitethesharpedgedfinishtoherworksthereisajarringqualitytoAndrews-Clifford’scompositionsthatleavesanunderlyingambiguitythatringsofthepostmodern-everythingisdefinitebutnothingiscertain.Inrecentyearsphotomontagehasseenaresurgenceasit’sdigitalequivalent,thememe,hasrisenasameansforsatiricalcommentinthedigitalsphere.InAndrews-Clifford’sworkhoweversheseekstoconfrontissuesmoredirectly,sheprovokesconsiderationofthepositionofwomenthroughherwork.Herfeministpositionespeciallydealswiththemalegazeandpointsoutitspervadingpresenceinourcultureandsociety.Anobjectivethatseemsevermorenecessarytoreachforinthis

postTrumpera.Asaresultmuchofhersourcematerialcomesfromthemiddleofthe20thcentury,especiallyemployingimageryofthestarletofthepostwarera.Andrews-Clifford’sknowledgeoffilmalwaysunderpinsherworkandthiscollectionmarksasortofappraisalofourtime.HavingLookedbackoverthelastcenturyandconsideringthepowerofthewomenmakingfilmsinthe1920s.lookingontothestrong‘femmefatal’ofthe30sand40s,buttheroleofwomenchangedafterthewarandfemalecharacterswereputinfarmoredomesticroles.Theriseofsecondwavefeminismfoughtbackinthe70s,the‘ladette’andtheshiftinpostmodernismthroughthe80sleadtothefeelingthat‘everythingisgoingtobealright,wecandowhatwewant’inthe90s.HowevertheinaugurationofpresidentTrumphascausedAndrews-Cliffordtowonderifwearenotabouttoseeanothershift?Wheredoesthelocker-roomendandtheOvalofficebegin?InthisbodyofworkAndrews-Cliffordconfrontswhatsheperceivestobeanewtrendof‘pornochic’.Shehasidentifiedthegrowinguseofhighlysexualisedposesinfashionmagazinestothepointofbeingpornographic.Shewishestohighlighttheseprovocativeposesandcreateamomentofrealisationinourpassiveconsumptionofmedia.Whilealsomakingarecordofwhatitistobeawomantoday;shesays:“inallmyworkItakeafeministstancewhilelookingatthedomesticsphereofwoman,howtheyareusedtosellandhowtheyaresoldto.”JuliaAndrews-CliffordwillbeonshowatTheblackShedGallerybetweenthe17thofJuneandthe29thofJulyinRobertsbridgeofftheA21.Visitwww.theblackshedgallery.org.ukoflikeourFacebookpagetofindoutmoreaboutthisexhibitionandourongoingprogrammeofevents.