The Knees II, from the series "About Her"

Description

Teresa Gierzyńska’s series, About Her, consists of photographs made over the course of decades. Its title refers both to the artist—whose body we see—and to a set of propositions “about” her—potentials, possibilities, and judgments that align only imperfectly with her person. While some of Gierzyńska’s photographs are patently theatrical, others, like this foreshortened image of her own knees, tend instead toward a quiet abstraction. The camera angle is at once intimate and distancing: we sense the camera’s close contact with the artist’s body, yet this body remains difficult to decipher, appearing above all as a pattern of textured waves.

The Knees II, from the series "About Her"

Teresa Gierzyńska

1983

Accession Number

248788

Medium

Gelatin silver print, unique print

Dimensions

Image/paper: 39.3 × 46.4 cm (15 1/2 × 18 5/16 in.)

Classification

photography

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Through prior gift of the Special Photography Acquisition Fund