Madonna/Whore

By: Aleece Bustamante

Madonna/Whore is a series of photographs I made in April or May for the final project of a class about women artists. The series addresses the tradition of the female nude in western art, particularly two categories of nude: the allegory and the femme fatale.

The allegory is not a real woman, she is an idea with no will of her own. Her nudity is acceptable because she does not inhabit the sexual space of a woman, only the body. She is a perpetual virgin. In contrast, the femme fatale is sexually assertive, which makes her dangerous. Her nudity is acceptable because it is a warning. I found these concepts quite similar to tropes within film, particularly the horror genre. Everyone knows only virgins are allowed live in the end, and sluts die early. As I was doing research for this series, I stumbled upon Freud’s theory of the Madonna-whore complex, which informed my title. The theory describes straight men’s desire for a degraded sexual partner, the Whore, and their inability to desire a respected partner, the Madonna.

From here I had the idea to use makeup to construct the Madonna and the Whore on my own face. But rather than simply presenting images that exemplify these stereotypes, I wanted to reference their constructed nature. My method for doing this was twofold. First, I took inspiration from drag, specifically Miss Gay Matte and Sgaire Wood, in the design for the makeup. The heightened drama gives a feeling of unreality in the final images, similar to a caricature. Second, in documenting the process of makeup application, I showcased the literal construction of the images. This idea was taken from the Brechtian technique in theatre, which deliberately draws attention to the theatrical process to take the audience out of the narrative and make them more critical of what they see. Ultimately, the intent of the series is to expose the unreality of the Madonna/Whore dichotomy within both western art and contemporary media.