Lot 135: Fiona Pardington Self Portrait gelatin silver

Fiona Pardington Self Portrait gelatin silver print 175mm x 230mm Access, exploitation and privacy issues are explored in Pardington's Self Portrait. A sensual image is presented to the audience as exposed and objectified. She challenges her audience and tests their reactions to the image, at first promoting desire and later retreat. The image questions intentions as the viewer gazes at the woman and effectively confuses them and subverts the subject it originally attempts to present, the exposed, feminine woman. Pardington asserts her role as a photographer with the power to engage and subsequently disengage her audience in gender politics. This is tantamount to Fiona Pardington's oeuvre.