Audrey Munson was the most sought-after model of early-20th century New York. In 2023 Matilde Søes Rasmussen documented traces of the artist-muse Munson still visible throughout the city, using them as inspiration for The Perfect Model.
The exhibition brings together Rasmussen’s research from different stages and experiences of being a model, moving freely between photography, text, collage and video.
The Perfect Model questions the relationship between an artist and their model. Rasmussen uses self-portraiture to reinterpret statues of Munson, as well as portraits of young, contemporary models from the same agency the artist herself was represented by twelve years prior. In addition, Rasmussen has collaged material from the New York Public Library, where archive images of the Munson sculptures fuse with images from generic search categories such as “Models”, “Photographer”, “Muse” and “Poses”.
Drawing on her own experiences of being a professional model, Rasmussen explores historical and contemporary forms of female representation in image production – commodified and sold bodies, silent and nameless muses. The Perfect Model is also a work about guilt, the guilt felt by an artist now behind the lens, objectifying the world around her. Rasmussen questions whether it is possible to critique the beauty industry and systems of female representation while taking pictures of it.
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Oblong
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Facts
Mathilde Søes Rasmussen is a Danish artist and writer based in Hamburg (DE). With her own body appearing simultaneously in front of and behind the camera, she explores the commodification of the body through text, photography and film.
She holds a BFA from HDK-Valand Academy of Art and Design in Gothenburg, and is currently studying an MFA at the HFBK University of Fine Arts Hamburg. Rasmussen recently held residencies at XYZ Lisbon, NARS Foundation NYC, the International Writers Workshop in Hong Kong, and GlogauAiR Berlin, and exhibited in venues such as Kunsthal Aarhus, Centrum För Fotografi, Landskrona Foto Festival and Nordic Light Photo Festival.