Tuesday 5 February 2013

BETTINA RHEIMS, GENDER STUDIES

There are more than two sexes, I know this. There is a man and a woman and then there is a woman hidden in a man's body and a man hidden in a woman's body. A woman can have manly muscles and a man feminine curves. So many combinations. There are no rules nowadays and never have been.  Elizabeth 1, our virgin Queen, who clearly was no virgin, was manly. She is even meant to have had children too?  Wallis Simpson was meant to have been floater too. It is good to be in no mans land you understand all sides of a story.  One of my favourite photographers Bettina Rheims is exhibiting at Hamiltons at the moment, the best photographic gallery,  here in London. Bettina joins photographers, Michel Comte, Helmut Newton and many more. A female  French semi erotic 
photographer, she placed an advert in facebook and photographed thirty beautiful people from around the world who float between masculine and feminine. 
 A fascinating portrayal of people who belong not entirely to one sex. A friend of mine who has been travelling with me calls me "Dude" teasing me saying I am like a man. Well, nobody could be more feminine than I am? Underneath I could be a bit of a boy? Or was it because he was a bit of girl?

Bettina was born in 1952 and by the late 1970's was known to be one of the most respected female photographers in the world. I love her work. She is sensual, flamboyant, all these things. When I was learning photography I used to study her endlessly. This is a rather harsh exhibition, yet erotic and fascinating too.  I went on Saturday and have thought about it ever since.  Alluring, the images go deep into the brain.  I remember listening to a doctor once, and he said there were thousands of versions of the human being just look inside a hospital. Here you see the glorious human being in all its androgynous glory.

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