3 to 19 December

FBAUL - Faculdade de Belas-Artes da Universidade de Lisboa

Monday to Saturday| 11am to 7pm

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This body of work has been created over a period of several years and features as its core subject professional female ballet dancers from various international ballet companies.

 

Discernible Beauty is an artistic photographic dialogue in which photographer and dancer juxtapose notions that are at the core of (western) performing arts and (capitalist) visual communication; and play with the role the (female) physique plays in both.

 

Borrowing from the visual language of religious iconography, western classical painting, as well as 20th century expressionism and capitalist advertising; and using techniques of commercial product photography highlighting choreographic lines, balletic limbs and bodily beauty, Discernible Beauty is a project that aims to present esthetically pleasing depictions of the cost of conforming to, and relegating yourself into, esthetically pleasing depictions.

 

Yet where the visual language that predominates western culture predominantly combines bodily beauty with the emotional tonality of sexual availability and desire; the bodies on display in this series combine athletic bodily prowess with a body language that reveals a deeply hidden fragility and inner turmoil.

 

Addressing the emotional and psychological toll that societal as well as balletic demands for physical perfection can have – predominantly, though not exclusive, on women – this series of images attempts at highlighting and expressing the hidden self-perceived flaws these artists identify on and within their bodies as a result of striving to fit within an esthetical ideal.

 

This project was realized through a collaborative process which started with a series of conversations about how these dancers had grown to perceive their own bodies – and themselves as a whole.

 

Be it because of the culture of “body image” and the professional striving for unattainable physical perfection (into which we are indoctrinated at a very young age), negative and derogative comments made during their formative developing years, the inability to satisfy artistic physical demands of choreographers and company directors, or because of injuries sustained throughout their career; all these dancers have parts of themselves they hide, mask, suppress or neglect at great cost.

 

Each image in this series corresponds to a statement made by a dancer during the initial conversations; “I really hate my feet,” “I don’t like my body,” “They keep telling me my calves are too weak,” “Only my right leg is good enough,” “My ballet teacher told me I would never find work because of my long neck,” “Every time I rehearse in front of the mirror I just want to sink into the floor,” “My left foot is terrible,” “They always say my hips are too wide,” “Ever since the surgery I hate my knee,” etc.

 

Juxtaposition is central in this series; juxtaposition of perception and self-perception, displaying and hiding, watching and being watched. Choreographic prowess through physical strength is juxtaposed with the body language of psychological fragility and inner turmoil. Color – with its historic application to emphasize bodily beauty – is juxtaposed with fabric – with its historic religious application to veil bodily beauty.

 

In short, Discernible Beauty is a photography series that attempts to visualize dancers’ inner world as a result of the (self-)perceived shortcomings, which these professional dancers wish to remain hidden and unseen yet which their profession requires them to put on display.​​

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Venue:

Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lisbon -  Largo da academia nacional de belas-artes, 1249-058 Lisboa

Sam Asaert (1987, Antwerp) is an internationally acclaimed visual artist, filmmaker, photographer, storyteller and content creator.

With a strong background in photo and film, dance, and journalism work, his artistic oeuvre explores the world around us using different media.

From projects with a documentary approach to projects with a more profound artistic and choreographic language; his work always has a strong focus on emotional and empathetic connection with the human body, humanity, its fate and its dignity

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