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<\/a><\/p>\nBio:<\/p>\n
I’m a photographer \u00a0living in Jersey City, NJ. \u00a0I’ve studied Photography & Media Arts at Parsons The New School For Design and New Jersey City University. My work deals heavily with gender roles, female sexuality, what is deemed as social or sexual norms, childhood, and the media\/ our perception of media as children in forming the adults we become. I have explored these topics through mediums of photography, video art, interactive installation and mixed media. Over the past few years I have exhibited work throughout the country and internationally. \u00a0In addition to my fine art work I have has also written for Posture Magazine, an online arts & culture LGBT magazine based in New York City and worked on music video sets managing production design.<\/p>\n
You can view more of my work at www.cathleenparra.com<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Photographic Work<\/strong><\/p>\n Childhood Project<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The images I made for this project are staged recreations of my childhood memories. The series deals with issues of sexual orientation, gender identity and the lifelong imprint left on a child from their family\u2019s dynamic. I felt is was very important to use people I was very close to as models so that I could create a safe space to relive these memories. This also strengthened the bond between my models and I. It was a bond my childhood had led me to believe I wasn\u2019t capable of.<\/p>\n I photographed with the intention of the characters lacking an identity. My reason for this is that I wanted not only to photograph in a way that mimics a visual memory, but I also wanted the photos to be accessible by the viewer. Working on this project has enabled me to cope with my past while further strengthening my bond with the people in my present. It is my hope that this project will present itself as an honest story both making the viewer uncomfortable with its blunt straightforward approach, and inviting them its universality on the topic of adolescence.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lego Project<\/p>\n Through out this project I interacted with models that have had sexual experiences in public outdoor spaces. This series forced the models and therefore forces the viewer to confront behavior that is usually hidden for fear of one being considered a sexual deviant. I consider the act of sex in a public and\/or outdoor space to be a common, although lesser form of exhibitionism. It is something a majority of people have done, but don\u2019t normally disclose. Censorship and the proscribed sexual norms that are engrained in our heads from childhood are the foundation of this project.<\/p>\n I was also aware of media representation of gender when I framed each shot. In the film industry, the most dismal rating for a film is an NC-17 rating. This rating surpasses the R rating. Once a film is rated NC -17, its promotional outlets are limited, if at all existent. Films that depict or reference certain aspects of the female orgasm are more likely to receive this rating. Meanwhile the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) is more lenient in portraying or referencing male sexuality and\/or nudity.<\/p>\n On the MPAA website the NC -17 rating is defined as \u201cin the view of the Rating Board, most parents would consider patently too adult for their children\u2026 rating can be based on violence, sex, aberrational behavior\u201d. Ultimately this inspired me to frame my images of women from the waist up while keeping males framed from the waist down. The Lego genitalia replicas worn by each model addresses the pixilation of body parts that is often rendered in television. Using Legos as a material was a playful way for me to reference our culture\u2019s relationship to censorship, and our own body, beginning in childhood.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Exquisite Truth<\/p>\n \u00a0Body positive activism has become a topic of discussion due to recent media exposure. The importance of this empowering movement is that it has presented the option for women to own and embrace their body types. Body positivity has put an emphasis on the real bodies of real everyday women, an image too often neglected in popular culture. In turn offering a diversified image of how we view women within our culture. The Exquisite Truth <\/i>is a series of self portrait diptychs in which I explore the idea of body positivity with myself.<\/p>\n I began studying perspectives of other women who write about the experience of being an over weight woman in a society that thrives on size obsession. I too had found myself succumbing to the obsession. Upon reading pieces on body positivity I realized how much respect I gained for these women. Women, who did not let a cultures disapproving eyes dictate what they wore and how they viewed, loved or respected themselves. Many of her images seek to expose what it looks like when a woman not of a glamourized clothing size is photographed in wardrobe that popular media normally reserves for unrealistic, retouched \u201csuper model\u201d body types, such as bikini’s, lingerie and halter tops.<\/p>\n The Exquisite Truth presents an imperfect body that is capable of sensuality and sexuality, two powerful naturally human attributes that such a body type would lack in mainstream media.\u00a0This series is a reclamation of self.<\/p>\n \u00a0Video Work<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>\u00a0<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n