Posed Parody Portraits

Thought-provoking, laugh-inducing and boldly artistic, the Yolanda Dominguez 'Poses' project is a clever play on the overly staged nature of fashion photography. The interactive performance calls for a group of real, ordinary women to pose in positions often seen in glamor mags in every day settings from the buss top to the supermarket, coffee shop and museum line.

Dominguez excitedly captures the reactions of perplexed spectators, are baffled by the strange street poses, yet do not question them on the pages of a magazine. It is a wonder whether the reactions would change if the posing subjects were high fashion models and not every day women. The performance shoot is a direct criticism of the artificially glamorous world fashion magazines presents, which often incites envy and self-hatred in their readers.

Implications - The artificial and overly edited images in fashion magazines and on film expose consumers to a distorted reality about beauty and body image. This distortion is not lost on many artists, who hope to inspire closed-minded consumers to open their eyes to the realities of this world and the unattainability of these standards through their art.