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| Karen Gerbrecht |
My grandmother having been born in Victorian Times used euphemisms in my presence. One of them was “donde la espalda pierde su nombre”. It does not translate well into English as espalda in Spanish is a person’s back from bottom of neck to waist – where the back loses its name.
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| Cori Caulfield |
I remember being in the Buenos Aires Subte (the subway) during the pre-lenten carnival in Buenos Aires. I was 8 and I spotted the bare back of a person leaning against the window of the car in front of me. I was confused as the person was dressed as a woman but the back was that of a man.
In my years as a photographer I had an interest in taking photographs of woman with little on. My idea was to figure out what Eros was all about. As I progressed I began to realize that there was a fine line between pornography and an erotic photograph that was not pornographic. At that point I defined pornography as Eros in bad taste. Somehow I could not find in me the required bad taste, so my photographs (my opinion in the atmosphere of the 20th century) were not pornographic.
It is only in last few weeks that I spotted this photograph that I took of Vancouver Symphony violinist Karen Gerbrecht.
In my recent past I have taken at least a hundred photographs of women with violin f-holes on their back inspired by Man Ray’s original. But this one with that brilliant violin bow is for me spectacularly elegant and erotic.
Years before I took photographs of that supreme dancer Cori Caulfield. I now appreciate it even more.
I am sure that my grandmother would have smiled.
