The Gannons, by Kristin Skees
Relationships, Contender Kristin Skees opines in her Cozy Portraits series, "can often walk the fine line between loving and smothering." To visually represent this idea, Skees creates custom cozies for her subjects—covering all traces of identifiable characteristics—and photographs them in their everyday settings, capturing "the claustrophobia of relationships." Simply named after the friends or family members in her series, each portrait pairs the subjects with their all-too-consuming milieu: for Mom and Dad, it's the time spent on the road in their aluminum RV; for Julie, it's her antiquated, midcentury vibrating belt machine, an allusion to the subject's relationship with her physical fitness regimen.
Julie, by Kristin Skees
The cozied, with the exception of Bill the Librarian, aren't in enclosed spaces. It's clear the claustrophobia, then, is represented solely by the closeness of the fabric to the skin, and by its restrictive, almost-mummifying design. But the cozies also serve to strip the individuals of any likeness, in effect adding another layer to the artist's theory on love: Relationships aren't just claustrophobic, they're homogenizing. The resulting images are humorous, yet challenging, and convey a sweetness between the paired subjects—even if some of them do seem out of place, if not downright uncomfortable.
Mom and Dad #1, by Kristin Skees
Untitled from the series Mother Goddess, 2009 by Pinar Yolaçan
In contrast, contemporary artist Pinar Yolaçan, in her Mother Goddess series, covers the subjects in head-to-toe creations. With considerable more movement allowed by these costumes, her subjects lie in classical poses, evoking the zaftig deities of ancient cultures. Both works speak of constriction (even a Goddess is bound by her responsibilities). But, whereas Yolaçan's images are carefully controlled—from the environment to the progression throughout the series—Skees' portraits are more outlandish, less deliberate and are a direct statement on the ties that bind, if you will, within our relationships.
Bill the Librarian, by Kristin Skees