DENSE an interview with YAEL LAROES
Uncertainty is the central theme in the work of Yael Laroes (b. 1992, the Netherlands). Her photographic work is inspired by surrealism, has raw visuals and is stripped from any comfort whatsoever. In her graduation series ‘Dense’, she studies the relationship between physical appearance and shame. More specifically, how much pressure Western society places on individuals in order to live up to some ideal of beauty appealing to the Western gaze. Laroes highlights this by portraying herself in uneasy postures, struggling with self-image. In this way, she exposes the pressures surrounding bodyweight in today’s society.
In an interview with GUP, Laroes reveals her perspectives on body image and the Western view on unrealistic beauty ideals.
Your whole series is in black and white, do you have a specific reason to avoid colours?
For me, black and white photography is very dynamic, whereas with colour, all kinds of other associations appear. Let’s say, the photo with me standing in the corner would be very different if I would use a blue background. The structure and shape of the environment I select has much more to say for itself in black and white. I consciously choose to place my nude self-portraits against an uneasy, extremely hard background, like stones or concrete, to emphasize my vulnerability.
In some of your images, you gaze directly into the camera, confronting the viewers. Would you say that this strategy resists the dominant way of looking?
Hard for me to say. I follow my intuition, but by looking back I indeed think: This is me; I am struggling. But I want you to really look at me, and forget everything you are used to, everything you learned. Forget the automatisms, or at least try!
Did the making of the series help you accept your body and re-gain a better self-image?
I still feel uncomfortable with my body, especially now, when the weather is so nice. Because now you can’t really hide behind a lot of clothes. At the moment, I wear a lot of loose black clothing. I do notice that something in my way of thinking has changed, but it might take a while before it fully enters the next phase. My weight has been a struggle for most of my life, so it will take a lot of time to change my self-image or even to accept it.
In the past few years, a strong body positivity movement has bubbled up to the surface particularly on social media. Do you think that Western gaze is perhaps slowly changing for the better?
I think it has still a very long way to go. But I do think it is changing, and that is already a good thing. I hope that someday we won’t need this movement anymore, but that might never happen. I am glad to see when people are genuinely happy with themselves. But I can't do that myself as I don't have that positive feeling about my body, and that’s what I wanted to demonstrate in my series.