Andrea Margaret (Brief Breasts) & Alexis Carene Hutt (Butt) in W4M (2012)
The sound is provided by Extreme Animals, part of the East Coast based art collective Paper Rad. Featuring deep colour and sexually poetic undertones, W4M channels what is at once a compelling and obscure mood that resonates deeply in our visual culture.
Produced by the collaborative production company Leonida Pictures, made up of Director Tracy Brown and Cinematographer Katelin Arizmendi, the film features Andrea Margaret (who has worked most prolifically with photographer Todd Hido) and Alexis Carene Hutt (Look Model Agency), as well as newcomer Martin Metz, in the starring roles.
Actress Marte Germaine Christensen in Jenny Hval ‘The Great Undressing’
There are dozens of videos online shining a light on the misogyny that pervades our culture, most famously in “Walking in NYC” clips. Essentially, the footage shows how hard it is for a woman to walk down a street without facing some form of verbal harassment.
In Jenny Hval’s new video for “The Great Undressing”, the avant artist wonders what simply going about your business would look like if females’ bodies weren’t overly sexualized. The clip finds a woman going through the normal parts of her day — working, hanging with friends, bicycling, getting late night french fries — except she’s completely naked.
“From an intellectual point of view I was intrigued by what would happen if you watched a naked woman totally ignorant about her own nudity going about a normal day,” Hval said of the NSFW video. “Would she be perceived as a sexual object? Or would her nakedness and femininity become something ordinary and natural? I have not tried to steer the film in the direction I thought was right, it’s more of an experiment that you should be the judge of. From a spiritual point of view the film explores loneliness and isolation in a world where capitalism and blending in are the two ruling factors.”
“The Great Undressing” comes from one of the best albums of the year, Hval’s Blood Bitch.