Photo Shooting

In her short video piece Photo Shooting (2001), the artist Jen Wu assumes the role of a model and poses for a photographer in a room that does not necessarily resemble a photo-studio. The viewer looks at this photo session through a camera placed in the corner of the room. The absence of the sound, the grayish color of the image and the obstructed visibility of the action material, light and people, makes the act of seeing appear to be facilitated through a surveillance camera. The viewer instantly becomes a form of authority, an Orwellian big brother. Though the model assumes, as expected, various poses for the photographer, the accelerated speed at which the action is presented, seems to exaggerate and intensify the act of posing. By doing this, Wu does not necessarily intend to comment on the fashion model’s profession but rather on the intrusive quality of the CCTV-like device.