White dress takes takes on new meaning

    Maybe it turned heads at the senior prom or swept across the dance floor at winter formal. Wherever this beautiful white dress went it most likely stole the show.
    When Katy Dennison first laid eyes on the dress at an estate sale, she knew she had to have it.  For $15 she purchased the beautiful sequined gown that eventually began a journey of self-discovery that is displayed in her art show, appropriately titled “The White Dress.”
    The show opened on Nov. 12 in Blackbridge Hall and will be on display until Dec. 5.
    The black and white photographs of the dress in different settings comprise Dennison’s senior art show. At first glance observers might think they are viewing photographs from a fashion shoot, but once they journey through the exhibit a different feeling emerges.
    Dennison began taking pictures of the dress for her own personal use; she never thought it would be the subject of her senior project.
    “I had never really thought about why I was taking pictures of this
dress. For some reason I was fascinated with it. I was photographing the dress on my friends who I thought were the most attractive and beautiful,” said Dennison. “Then I sat down with this visiting artist, Prada Malde, and he kept asking me what it was about this dress that I
was so fascinated with. It was then that I realized I had some issues concerning body image and ideals of beauty that I was projecting through this dress.”
    After realizing the reason behind her obsession with the dress, Dennison
began to photograph it
in a different way, placing more of the emphasis on the dress itself.
    Her journey through issues of self-image and personal identity becomes
evident throughout the exhibit.
    “I think the show has a lot of consistency which is important to have,” said India Barfield, a senior art major. “I also like how you can see her evolve with the dress. First you see it on the two women,
and then it moves on to photographs of the dress on the mannequin, and
finally you just get the focus on the dress itself.”
    Dennison’s unique artistic work has been noticed by her professors and her peers. At her reception on Wednesday, Nov. 14, Emily Gomez,
professor of photography commented warmly about Dennison in a speech to
the crowd.
    “I admire Katy’s ability to delve into her psyche,” said Gomez. “I know she is going to go on to do great things because she is not afraid to take risks in her artwork.”
    Dennison, claims her biggest influences have come from Herb Ritts and
Richard Avedon. She has learned a lot about herself and her work since she
first began photographing the dress. She feels as though she is more comfortable with her work as well as with herself emotionally and physically. But this exhibit does not bring her journey to an end; she is still in the process of self-discovery.
    “I feel that this body of work is not yet completed, nor is my transformation as a person,” said Dennison. “Much work must still be done for both, but this series has helped me tremendously in the process of feeling adequate in my own skin and with altering my unreasonable standards of beauty.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Nov 30 2007. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry