What it's like to be photographed by Carolyn Cowan.
2nd story written by Sara Sutton.
+44 (0) 20 7701 3845 portraits@mooncycles.co.uk
I stand naked, pinned to an imaginary cross in a surrey garden. My huge belly protrudes in front of me. My expression is that of a holy martyr. I feel powerful and sexual. My hair is exploding from my body, my breasts are full, my skin is clear. Carolyn Cowan is crafting a joke, a beautiful joke about the immaculate conception.
I am Jesus and Mary rolled into one. Around us the garden of England fizzes with nascent life. Shoots explode from the earth. Expectant flora dilate with seductive scents, giving the come-on to passing bees. Delicate crocuses burst from the fertile ground. Birds twitter like teenagers on the top deck of a bus, coo-ing, chaffing, chirping and calling. All around us, nature throws a mantle of sex. All is reproducing, germinating, sprouting, flowering, humming. I look down upon this from my crucifix (I can see your house from here), ready to burst.
Next she dissects me, my belly and breasts framing the bridge that I am yet to cross. My swollen womb distends, my not-yet-milk-filled breasts bourgeon joyfully below, nipples extending in the freezing March air. My body stretches and spreads to fill the vast expanse beneath the bridge. I have always found headless portraits distasteful; the very embodiment of de-personalization. But Carolyn Cowan is a sculptress. She sees the shape and beauty of the body and celebrates its strangeness. I go into a trance-like state and revel in my beauty, emerging disoriented and confused. Is she a magician? A magi? An alchemist? I would believe anything of her
CAROLYN COWAN Undertakes commissions for photographing portraits, editorial work and advertising.
Carolyn also teaches how to body paint, running short professional courses.
Learn about body painting materials and techniques from a bodypainter based in london with years of professional experience.
Carolyn is a devoted teacher of Kundalini Yoga...See more here.
- PORTRAITS OF PREGNANCY
- MOTHERHOOD
- BABIES
- CHILDREN
- MOTHERS
- FATHERS
- LOVERS
- FAMILIES
- FRIENDS
to the wonderlands of your own consciousness."
Yogi Bhajan
