Claude Cahun was a French surrealist photographer known for self-portraiture and performance. Cahun was also a writer and an activist. I am interested in double exposure, and in this photograph the way Cahun looks in two directions, and how different the two versions of the artist seem. Cahun received art historical fame and scholarship years after Cahun died, and in retrospect, historians talk about the work as some of the first comments on performative gender.
Deana Lawson is a contemporary artists who creates portraits, frequently of people in domestic spaces. Her models are often posed gracefully, and the interior design is alive in its own way, although the people are the most magnetic. The magnetic nature of the models is partially due to how often they are centered in the center of the photo, but also their natural beauty, and the staged mood of the image. The artist talks about the work in terms of canonical beauty and Black representation in the U.S., so the beauty of the models and the images might signify specifically Black beauty and storytelling.