Born in Ukraine, Dina Litovsky came to New York in 1991. She completed an MFA in photography at the School of Visual Arts and she is currently working on personal projects and teaching at the International Center of Photography. Litovsky’s project ‘Untag This Photo’ deals with the interesting change that we have all witnessed within public behaviour and personal representation since the explosion of electronic media and the arrival of social media networks such as Facebook. About the work she writes:
The recent explosion of electronic media, specifically digital cameras, iphones and networking sites, has had a significant influence on the public behavior and personal representation of women in contemporary society. Social networks provide a perfect platform for wide and instant exposure and familiarize the mainstream audience with overtly sexualized behaviors that in the past have only been permissible in the contained settings of Spring Break or Mardi Gras.
Cameras, ever more compact and omnipresent, are increasingly admitted into heretofore ‘private’ realms: late-night dance halls, erotic events, even in the bedroom. Enabled by the new technologies and encouraged by the Lady Gaga-like conception of femininity, a desire to reveal has transformed into a willingness to expose. With this, self-representation of women has reached a curious state, one where women are both in control of their image and at the same time, participate more than ever in their own objectification.
Instead of an instrument of voyeurism, the camera becomes a welcomed participant. The women photographed are not just permitting but actually performing for the camera; it connects them, the virtual exhibitionists, to a vast anonymous audience.
This post was contributed by photographer Maja Daniels.
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