Bodies Mapping Time

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=88 BGCOLOR="#FFFBF0" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="3" WIDTH="83" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#C0C0C0" FRAME="HSIDES" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 27 WIDTH="75"><div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="J. Michael Walker"><U><B>Home</B></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 27 WIDTH="75"><div> <B>Index</B></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFBF0" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="3" WIDTH="900" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#C0C0C0" FRAME="BOX" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 2797 ><NOBR><bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="1" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="3" WIDTH="846" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#C0C0C0" FRAME="BOX" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 2722 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="4af39820.jpg" border=0 width="313" height="2434" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="2" WIDTH="494" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#C0C0C0" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 55 ><NOBR><div> <B>Bodies Mapping Time</B></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 39 ><NOBR><div> The new project from artist-author J. Michael Walker<B>: </B> </div> <div> Photographic Portraits of Women</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 56 WIDTH="488"><div> A woman's body is a map of her life's journey.</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 14 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="2cfbc020.png" border=0 width="444" height="2" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 362 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="4bee4610.jpg" border=0 width="484" height="353" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 125 WIDTH="488"><div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#996666" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I><B>P</B></I></FONT>uberty and pregnancy, childbirth and fatigue, injuries and surgeries, working and aging.  These and more inscribe themselves into a woman's flesh, redefine her contours, weigh her down, and lift her up. Her body may signal promise or survival - or trial's struggle `twixt the two. It is her domain and her mirror - but circumscribed, often, by standards of appearance that deprive her of self-confidence and self-love.</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 WIDTH="488"><div> <I><B>A </B></I><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Times New Roman" >woman's body is biography, really; and society - that ruthless judge - misguides us into devaluing the ways life events are recorded on a woman's skin; encouraging her to "white-out," with botox and in shame, the storied evidence of her progress through life.</FONT></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 372 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="4b2e46b0.jpg" border=0 width="484" height="363" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 151 WIDTH="488"><div> <I><B>L</B></I><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Times New Roman" >ike many figurative artists, I have long photographed women as reference for paintings and drawings; and I have always sought to honor and celebrate the women portrayed in those works.</FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#996666" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I><B>I</B></I></FONT>n “<B>Bodies Mapping Time</B>” this communication is more direct, the woman's voice less filtered. I work with each model in the late morning light of my studio: </div> <div> a few chairs, some pillows, two bolts of fabric, my camera on a tripod, and the magic that each woman brings to her session.</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 399 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="4bfe4860.jpg" border=0 width="484" height="390" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 125 WIDTH="488"><div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#996666" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I><B>W</B></I></FONT>e work collaboratively, choosing poses together, chatting as we work; and then each woman selects those portraits she feels most effectively convey who she is. <B>This heretical approach - where the model partners with the artist, where the sitter selects her portrait - counter-intuitively affords me as artist greater artistic freedom, permitting me to witness (and hopefully capture) each woman's fullest expression of her self.</B></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 372 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="4b4e46b0.jpg" border=0 width="484" height="363" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 WIDTH="488"><div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#996666" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I><B>I</B></I></FONT>n a sense, “<B>Bodies Mapping Time</B>” is really two projects: an intimate, celebratory conversation among women; and a beneficent, consciousness-raising invitation to men to reconsider popular culture's commercialized and eroticized portrayals of women.</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 24 WIDTH="488"><div> To see more Images, Click <A HREF="id176.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Bodies Mapping Time: More Images"><U>Here</U></A>.</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 362 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="4b0e4610.jpg" border=0 width="484" height="353" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 24 WIDTH="316"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="316" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="509"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="509" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 24 WIDTH="886"><div> All images copyright 2010 by J Michael Walker</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>