Vomit

During my research I have discovered that there is a globally felt repulsion at bodily fluids-things from the inside of our bodies that have come outside. There is a sense of 'wrongness' about this. We don't want to be reminded that we are made up of sometimes smelly and unpleasant substances. That we are organic beings that can rot and die.

Cindy Sherman ‘Untitled – 175′ (1987)

This photo from the ‘Disaster Series’ is firstly a constructed beach setting with sand, sun cream, sunglasses and a towel. But then there are food remains and vomit strewn over the scene and a worried looking woman reflected in the sunglasses. Sherman seems to be commenting on the sad phenomenon of bulimia where food is gorged, then vomited. It suggests loneliness and self- revulsion. The woman has removed herself and seems to be looking in disgust at what she has done to herself.

I like the landscape composition created by shooting the image at a low level. This has stretched and warped the objects making them into lakes and hills. The predominance of green adds to the decomposed and repulsive effect. According to Ruth White (2009) in her blog ‘Sherman shows her audience that women who take part in these performative acts are killing their own identity and eventually perhaps their physical selves’

I was looking at this series of images as research for my kaleidoscopes based on sections of images of rotten meat, blood, bones, flies and a dying orchid. My comment was in response to the old combination of beauty and decay existing side by side in our lives.