Untitled by Stephanie Diani

Marriage--in all its glory and catastrophe--is depicted time and again in literature, films, and song. In fact, many of the expressions of marriage that first come to mind depict its downfall rather than its success through affairs, deceit, and prolonged unhappiness. Rather recent novels like Revolutionary Road and The Corrections articulate dysfunctional families living in the facade of normality, until secrets break lose and emotions explode into situations of ruin. American Beauty takes a similar storyline to film; Desperate Housewives and Weeds (about a suburban housewife who turns to drug-dealing) bring it to TV. There is no shortage of well-dressed, middle-aged married women who become embroiled in misdeeds due to their marital displeasure in our culture, whether they are an accurate portrayal or not is left to question.

Los Angeles-based Hey, Hot Shot! contender, Stephanie Diani, photographs staged, fictional marriages, capturing couples' postures and actions with an air of disillusionment. The couples never make eye contact, but engage in activities often attributed to the specific gender's role: a woman knits (albeit morbidly, by an axe), a man holds a golf club, liquor in his other hand. The relationships here display tense bodies in cinematic lighting, and there is an explicit sexiness in the women's dress and posture without stirring any emotions of intimacy. All of the couples are well-dressed, Caucasian, and appear to be upper-middle class, speaking to problematic marriages as a classed affliction. Whether these portraits of marriage speak an element of truth to how some marriages really are, or more-so adopt a pop-cultural view of dysfunction in relationships, Diani makes a strong stance about her vision of marriage.

See more work on Stephanie's website.