Madison Woiten

In this series of photographs, I explore and question agency, vulnerability, and intimacy as it appears in my own relationship, juxtaposed to what I witnessed while being raised by parents who could not demonstrate how to give and receive love. As I was never taught how to give and receive love, the photographs capture the foreign space in which I have entered with both my body and my mind. The body is examined heavily within the work as a character within my relationship and as a woman’s body subjected to the patriarchy, questioning whether the prior can exist without the latter. The body is also examined within the work as a vehicle for the trauma inflicted from my parents' marriage. Looking to the body in such a way creates an exploration of the consumption of women’s bodies, and the ability, or lack thereof, to reclaim agency and sexualization as a woman. The final product of this process is a very intimate look into my identity as a sexual and romantic being as a woman who has been subject to a patriarchy since childhood.