Annette Messager

 Annette Messager involves a lot of different materials into her work. In this series, she takes photos of hands, feet, and other body parts and then edits drawings of scenery and little doodles onto the body parts. The base pictures here are in black and white and have a high contrast, the whites are very white and the blacks very black. In these two photos, the hands and feel look as if they're being pressed against glass or  something. I think this effect could be achieved using a photocopier and pressing against the glass.


In one of the hands photos, the drawings are done in colour which contrasts with the black and white background image.

My favourite images of hers are probably the ear ones she does. She draws in all of the contours of the ears (post production) and it creates a really fantastic (but strange) effect, like the ear is some Elven tree house and each level of the ear is a pathway. The colours she uses are bright but not obscene, they're like watercolours and in some of her photos (hands and feet), the paint has a dripping effect.

I find these photos really interesting, the drawings almost allow us to see what's going on inside Messager's head and from that it's like breaking a barrier between what's real and what isn't. As well as the drawings and concepts, I love the clarity of the photos, the lines are strong and the shadows are heavy and sobering, they help finish these impactful photographs.

Recreations:
Without editing-