Multiple, layered frames of subjects moving through slow, yoga-like routines. Images were taken after the application of face paint, ostensibly as an aid to the layering process, which relies on luminance values to determine which details are retained when the images are stacked on top of one another in Photoshop.
I got the idea for this work after having my face painted at a school fete. I was taken by the sense of surrender I felt in closing my eyes and letting a stranger touch my face with a brush. The cool ink and the painter's hovering presence engendered a kind of detached intimacy that left me hazy and receptive after the fact.
Subjects were informed afterwards that the shoot gratified a desire for fleeting intimacy and allowed to withdraw their consent to the exhibition of the subsequent images. Images were exhibited alongside a large vinyl sign reading "what if all of this was just an excuse to touch you?"