I think cropping yourself so you can’t be seen as a whole makes it pretty clear why these images don’t really fit in the #hospitalglam project. A big part of this is about taking up space and allowing yourself to be seen. Like, really seen. It’s hard to do, but owning the space and accepting that you are a whole person wherever you are is a big step towards the best care possible.
Zoom out. We want to see you.
tbh i am a little disappointed and hesitant to respond to this.
hospital glam is yours and you can obviously make decisions for your work in whatever way you seem fit
-&maybe it was wrong to tag this as #hospitalglam but it doesn’t feel great to have my photo be discounted, and used as an example.
creating a situation where the biggest response i’ve received on the internet as a sick person is one where i am being called out for being [bad] at hospital glam does not seem right to me. this image was created as an exercise for my own artistic practice. i have been making work about my personal experiences and the images of hospital glam have been a source of inspiration for me. for this photo i was literally trying to create “a minimalist hospital glam photo” focusing on the simplest signifiers of this event.
-im an artist-trying to make work-in conversation with the work i see around me-
^^and finally, how sad is it for me to click on the nothospitalglam tag and see my singular image displayed
I understand that feeling. There have been a number of cropped images showing up lately, and yours was accompanied by a question. I answered it, because it is usually the best way to clarify the project.
I’m sorry the tag hurt your feelings. I use tags primarily for archiving + classification. I made that tag because this is the first time I’ve reblogged a photo I would not feature in the project. I will add text posts to the tag or alter the tag to make it less hurtful.
Let’s talk about this as artists in dialogue, discussing practice. Stripping something back to a minimalist version of praxis involves engaging with the core concepts at their most basic components. The core components of this project are being yourself and occupying clinical space, and using self representation to retrain abled gaze.
Photos of patients looking shy, or cropping themselves mostly out of the frame, or focusing on one detail and not them as a complete person are the old guard of hospital photos. It’s what people expect to see of patients- parts of us, because they think only parts of us are okay. Hospitalglam challenges this idea of visibility using spaces where we are vulnerable. A very minimalist hospitalglam photo might look like a shot of you, as a patient, occupying a part of the room without the expected signifiers. The main conceptual markers would need to stay in place for it to be part of the project.
As artists, it is rough to be out there. But if you push your work out as an artist, you have to be ready for critique and discussion of that work.
Making work that branches off of things Hospitalglam makes you think about is 10000% cool- I love other people’s projects and am happy to signal boost. Hospitalglam remains a specific project with defined characteristics. If you want to make work without having it evaluated on this criteria, simply don’t tag it as part of the project. Again, there are other tags that apply: #artandillness #medaesthetic
If you want a community tag where people can rally other projects, including mixed media and check in with each other: #hglaminspo
Mooncustafer 