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"Lolita con Bambino", 2015, edition of 4 + 1 AP, archival print on half matte fine art paper, 140 x 154cm
Lale Tara is known for creating surreal, visually evocative and often provocative photographic works, posing a life-size doll as her Doppelgänger. In Reverse Exotic, Tara filters her favourite characters from Western literature and opera, and crafts them along the axis of her own imagination, in a reversal of gaze towards the West as exotic Other.
The artist appropriates the musings of exoticism by isolating them from their geographic, political and cultural associations, and integrating them into her own artistic vocabulary. Custom designed costumes, contemporary fetishized fashion fads, studio settings and backdrops, all play a role in de-contextualizing and re-contextualizing the ‘exotic’. In the meticulously staged photographs of Reverse Exotic, famous women such as Miss Havisham, Lolita and Lady Macbeth, are depicted with the psychological drama and grandeur of opera stills.
Opening Reception: Friday, 25 September 2015 from 7-11pm
Venue: Yavuz Gallery, Gillman Barracks
When: 26 Sep - 7 Nov 2015,
By: Ames Yavuz