OLIVIA GONE
Hot Naked Girls
A black and white 35mm film project on the concept of nakedness versus nudity, as John Berger writes about in his book, Ways of Seeing. This distinction is investigated through images of my partner, Skully Gustafson. She is a trans woman, and by blurring images of her body with my own AFAB body in the same settings, I further blend the differences between our female bodies. Trans-female women desire to be affirmed in their gender expression, and communicate this to the social body through behavior and expression that read "female" to the larger societal idea of the gender. When a trans-femme is naked for the camera, viewing them as women in their naked state becomes the ultimate form of gender queer acceptance. Aware accepting the naked trans-femme body as female may be challenging for some viewers, the images shed light on the problematic issues of gender, sexuality, and dehumanization of trans gender people. The images also celebrate the intense beauty and the captivating presence of queer gendered humans.