Sonja in Her Bath
Starting in 1974, Swiss artist Annelies Strba has photographed members of her family for a lengthy project called Shades of Time. The photos in this projects are typically fuzzy, over-exposed or grainy and invoke a bygone era of intimacy and nuclear family. The photographs depict her children Sonja, Linda, and Samuel as well as her grandmother, mother, partner and eventually her grandchildren. Sometimes intruding, sometimes nostalgic, her photos capture utopian togetherness and lack of privacy in our simple everyday life.
In a subtle, effortless way, they are the chronicles of relationships, childhood and the coming of age between fantasy and reality. The title of the project itself invokes the process of seeing oneself in one’s own offspring, and fleeting memories of the irrevocable past. Although her photographic vision was much hailed, Annelies Strba was widely criticized when she exhibited the above photo of her daughter naked in the bath. The photo was taken in 1985 when her daughter was 12 (at least according to museum tags).
The photo has already been published in a book and shown in several major European galleries without complaint when it came to the eminent Rhodes+Mann gallery in Shoreditch, east London in 2002. Public outcry ensued in Britain and Scotland Yard threatened to charge the gallery’s director with the Obscene Publications Act. Although denounced as pedophiliac, the photo was not withdrawn, a court deciding controversially that the reputation of the gallery and the strength of other photos in Strba’s work is enough to consider the picture as a work of art.
Sonja-Maria Bon, who claimed she was 16 not 12 in the photo, also didn’t think the photo was pornographic or pedophiliac. Sonja, now herself a photographer, claimed it is one of her favourite pictures by her mother: “I was 16, I had a boyfriend and a job in a hospital. I knew what I was doing. And it was my mother taking the photo. It is only a problem for other people if they see it in that way. If they think of pedophiles, it is their fantasies when they see the picture, but it is not a problem for me or other people.”
(See similar controversy over Brooke Shields here).
Interesting.
This photograph is definitely different in it’s nature, and even though there could be some question about the actual age of Sonja-Maria, she is unquestionably post-pubescent, whereas Brooke was not. That plus the heavily applied make-up on Brooke, the obviously staged posing, the non-family photographer, etc.
I’m curious about what has happened over the last year. The posting of Brooke Shields has 500+ comments, and this one has none. Well, one now. I for one intend to continue stopping in and enjoying the photos, history lessons, and commentary.
Eric
June 14, 2010 at 4:15 am
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April 1, 2011 at 9:46 am
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July 4, 2010 at 9:51 pm
[...] Sonja in Her Bath [...]
The Best Blog I Have Ever Seen « F I S H I N G
August 17, 2010 at 9:01 am
I think it’s a lovely picture. Not in a sexual sense, but aesthetically. I don’t see anything sexual or paedophiliac about it.
ReL
August 19, 2010 at 7:30 am
[...] the other hand, two photos I would consider almost equal in their intrusions into familial privacy (here, here) had different fortunes here on this blog, as they would in the real life too. Popularity of [...]
(500) Days of Spammer « Iconic Photos
August 25, 2010 at 7:41 am
It’s the old belgium pedophile network again.
Johan
September 4, 2010 at 11:17 pm
want photo sexy nice
shahsavar
November 14, 2010 at 6:48 am
this the usa freedome is what we got its not like she was sucking his dick and she was so what thay are sick in head
freedome 4 all
December 6, 2010 at 5:32 am
My God, you must be the dumbest son of a bitch ever. Freedome? Please tell me your stupid ass hasn’t contributed to society’s gene pool. For fuck’s sake, how do you spell ‘freedom’ and ‘they’ wrong in the first place???? Besides the fact that THERE IS FUCKING SPELL CHECK ON THIS PAGE, you inbred moron!!!!!!!
Charles Montgomery
December 7, 2010 at 4:03 am
wow dude chill — damn –
Galzu
January 11, 2011 at 12:00 am
This photo is not a museum or gallery material. This should just had stayed within mom-daughter’s album, not even to be seen by any male family. If they were good photographers enough, what need to be covered should had been covered. Why did not use the nearest soap suds to cover those pubic hairs? The state of the bathroom itself is nothin but scatter, sorry to say that. Comparing to Brooke Shields similar photo, this one did not leave any imagination… Brooke’s except for her being underage and screaming foul later in life, everything there was beautiful, the scenery and the pose, wherein what needed to be silhouetted was silhoutted. Come on people, if that part of suds is move a little lower to the right, it could be more prettier and has a little mystery left. Now that is what art and beauty is, not all given, should had left some imagination for the audience.
enigmatically
December 9, 2010 at 1:50 am
The author here alludes to the interesting way in which British Law addresses “Obscene Publications”. Apparently, from what I’ve read, it’s all based on context…a lewd or sexually explicit photograph might be legally deemed as such if it stands alone, but if it is part of a museum exhibit or collection, it may be considered completely legal and acceptable. I’m pretty wary of anyone who considers a photo of an under-18 nude woman as “art” (i.e. the Brooke Shields photos), but I think it’s interesting and thought-provoking how the subject of this photo came out and essentially scolded people for extrapolating a sexual connotation from it. As far as censorship goes: I’m more of a writer/reader than a visual artist, but anytime I hear of a book being formerly or currently banned, it makes me want to read it SO MUCH MORE.
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March 29, 2011 at 10:04 pm
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Will G. Henley
June 12, 2011 at 8:40 pm
Broooke’s mom Terry gave her permission for the photos and the way everything turned out it might have been the gutiest move of its kind ever concieved since it skyrocked Brooke’s career. The publice has kept her in their minds from that point on. Would I as a parent done the same? NO! But I think it was a calculated move (the movie Prettyy Baby) to spark her daughters acting career and there is no denying it worked.
Antonio Taylor
January 6, 2012 at 7:31 pm
Nudity is not pornographic, tis only the human body.
Brooke, painted up and posed, crosses that threshold, imo..
Jahk
January 23, 2012 at 7:46 pm
I really do not see anything pornographic about this image. Bathing is a normal routine.
Antonio Taylor
January 24, 2012 at 7:58 pm