There are times when I’m not sure if something is art or if it’s pushed itself beyond into the realm of “going too far”. That’s how I feel about the photography of Joel-Peter Witkin, who creates, “…black-and-white portraits and still-lifes of hermaphrodites, body parts, severed heads, [and] mutilations…”
Witkin states:
I wanted my photographs to be as powerful as the last thing a person sees or remembers before death.
Regardless of whether or not these images go too far in terms of their construction, there is no doubt that they are beautifully crafted, grotesquely hypnotic.
There’s a gallery below but I have to warn you that they’re incredibly NSFW and rather disturbing. If you like what you see, you can snag Witkin’s book Vanitas via Barnes And Nobles.
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