Katelynn Tracy

I decided to work on a new series of portraits that center around the female likeness, shrouded in a constricting sheet as a visual depiction of how uncomfortable and weight bearing it can be to be feminine. 
The sexualization of the female body is constant and almost subconscious in our culture. In this scene, we’re openly invited to look at some of the subject’s most private parts, while from under the damp sheet, she can’t see us at all. Not only does the fabric highlight her chest—it clouds her face. Knowing and not knowing someone so intimately begs the question: how do we judge, view, and understand women? I want viewers to feel discomfort at their exploitative position in relation to the subject, and to think about how, on micro levels, we make women into forms that are at once sexual and faceless, exploited and completely misunderstood, and expect them to bear the weight of our gaze.