Naho Kubota

Unrevealed | Minimum Structure

The photographic series "Unrevealed" transforms an unknown organic object into an abstract color patch. Through this series, the viewers can avoid the process by which they unconsciously associate an image or an object with something already familiar. The images allow the viewers to think about their personal thoughts, such as memory, rather than compelling them to identify the subject of each photograph. By portraying something ordinary as something unfamiliar, the images can change people's perceptions of what is real.

The project "Minimum Structure" started three years ago as a photo collection of strangely appealing machinery parts and landscapes.  My interest lies not in the functionality of these structures, but rather in the structures themselves.  With a little exploration, we can always find a hint of nonsensical abstraction hiding in our everyday life.  Excluding the subjects from their original purpose creates an image that is imaginatively isolated from reality.

Bio

Naho Kubota received her BFA in photography from The School of Visual Arts with honors. Her work has been shown in exhibitions worldwide including her most recent show "new pictoria" at The Artcomplex Center of Tokyo, Japan. She is also the winner of American photography 24, and finalist of New York photo festival book category. nahokubota.com

Women in Photography is co-curated by amy elkins and cara phillips. It will present a solo exhibition of work from select photographers every other Tuesday of the month.

Women in Photography is sponsored by humble arts foundation, and designed by made by brown.

Kate Orne

Brothels and Fundamentalism

This body of work examines the uneasy peace between Islamic fundamentalism and profanity in the brothels of Pakistan. Pakistan’s little known sex industry survives under a blanket of modesty, pretense and oppression. This isolation with its inner conflicts drew me in. The sexual natures of their business interest me less. I find the women proud despite their stigma, yet modest in keeping with their Islamic upbringing; a woman sits on her bed, a madam. She recently sold her 14-year-old daughter’s virginity.

Arousing movie posters hang discreetly in a corner of a local cinema appear stark and uninhibited, though tame compared to what we are used to in the West. Here a hint of a cleavage or bra strap, or a woman not covering her chest with a hijab is a ravenous display of seduction. As we look closer, the sex workers themselves have censored exposed thighs and cleavage with a black pen. Repressive fundamentalist Muslim laws not only shun these women’s existence but also in some areas make their actions punishable by death. However, unlike any other place in Pakistan, in their brothels the women are the breadwinners. This underlying dualism surfaces in portraits of the women sitting proudly on the same beds where they not only service their customers but share with their husbands and children. These paradoxes forced me to set aside my in-grained expectations of how things should be or appear, to deepen my understanding of this culture and its complexities.

Full article and author info at Women In Photography

Nicola Kast

Nicola Kast is a German-born photographer who lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. She grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa and Berlin, Germany. She received her BFA in photography with honors from the School of Visual Arts in 2007. She has exhibited her work in the United States and abroad. Most recently her work was published in the 2008 Vice Photo Issue. Upcoming publications include Fjord, Lay Flat, and Código 06140. nicola-kast.com

Statement

The ongoing series tentatively titled “How Can We Be So Different?” explores the unraveling, construction and consequences of German social identity and history.

Nicola is featured on the Women in Photography website.