TRANSCENDENCE
Transcendence, defined as, existence or experience beyond the normal or physical level.
In this body of work, the artist creates a photographic series that explores ideas of transcendence and beauty in the modern world. Women portray beauty, tenderness, and grace, but by no means do these ideas of softness encompass women’s full potential. The artist brings to light the difference between the obsolete ideas associated with women and the ideas of what an authentic woman encompasses. In order to do so, she portrays the subject, a young woman, as floating in mid-air in front of an abandoned building. The subject’s youth, beauty, and movement are brought to the viewers’ attention by the comparison made with the dark, neglected background. Her position and appearance of floating allude to the idea of rising above the hindering and outdated ideas of a woman as symbolized by the dark, abandoned scene. Thus, the subject morphs into a goddess-like figure transcending above the stereotypes and showing the world how powerful a woman is.
Using Photoshop techniques, the artist removed any trace of props used to elevate the model, thus giving the impression that the subject levitates or floats. Portraiture in the series focus on the elegant power that women hold, thus contributing to the idea that women are much more than gentle. The artist chose to present some image in color and some in black in white in order to best convey the most power and strength. In the final image in the series, the artist uses simplistic ascetics in order to leave the viewer with the feeling of release that the women finds once reaching a state of empowerment and the ability to exist beyond the normal or physical level, a state of transcendence.
