Alan Walt Architects – The Softer Sex

Corporate Commission: Alan Walt Architects & Ass.
The Client Christmas Card 2013/4

This was Alan Walt and my 4th collaboration together.

Alan is a South African architect based in Cape Town who I met around 2007 when he approached me to shoot one of his end-of-year/Christmas cards which he sends out to his clients, usually late, but none the less around the December/January mark.

The end of year client card is a space for him to collaborate with artists and to create a thought provoking and generally provocative (when working with me) product of some kind to share with the people he has worked with during a year.

Alan usually comes to me with a starting point of some kind from which we grow an idea which I shoot. The 2013/4 collaboration intended to incorporate the “AWA” (Alan Walt Architects) logo into the cut out wedge of the models high heels. A play on power and rather reminiscent of Helmut Newtons nudes,- the model stands strong and dominantly. She stands on the clients brand (via the logo cut wedges in the heels) at the same time she’s incapacitated by wearing the heels as well as the blindfold.

This image by Newton comes to mind...the disabled yet powerful woman. — This image by Newton comes to mind…the disabled yet powerful woman.

The project morphed so that by the end we produced a 48 or 72 piece A4 puzzle from the image which would be delivered or sent out to his clients.

The below images show the camera RAW files in Bridge (Photoshops editing software) as the images get edited down to a final selection for the project.

Alan messed around with some of the images (below). He printed out the above files and cut them up to resemble the beginning of a collage shaped as a “W”. I like this idea better in hindsight and maybe we’ll still put it together one day as a print for his office.

Below is the first proof printed puzzle and lastly, I gave the model (a friend and also a photographic assistant in our space) a copy. I left the piece stacked up in a little mysterious pile on her desk for her to find and assemble when she came in to work.

Corporate Commission: Alan Walt Architects & Ass.
The Client Christmas Card 2007

I met Alan Walt in 2007 when he contacted me via a recommendation from Heidi Erdmann of The Photographers Gallery ZA. Alan creates a somewhat controversial or abstract “christmas” card or seasons greetings type card to his clients at the end of each year. He strikes me as the kind of person who likes to ruffle feathers, challenge perceptions and so on and he uses this opportunity to do just that with his clients.
Previous cards had not been related to issues pertaining to sexuality or gender specifically. I got the feeling that he got a kick out of challenging my notions of the subject since it was the subject we would deal with for his commission if he wanted to collaborate with me as a creative.
I can’t remember exactly how the final concept came up. He wanted to incorporate his company name “AWA” into the product in a subliminal way and we discussed references and ideas and decided to use the [taboo] oriental art of Karada (rope tying) as the vehicle.

I had used Karada references, especially those of Nobuyoshi Araki a few years previously and we discussed then in context of incorporating the — I had used Karada references, especially those of Nobuyoshi Araki a few years previously and we discussed them in context of incorporating the ideas or art in Alan’s project.

I sketched my idea, we confirmed the look and went ahead with the job.

I generally work alone, I prefer it since communicating my creative vision, shoot process, etiquette with nude models or trying to maintain my patience with others working on my set frustrates me.

Alan wanted to be present at the shoot which I found totally unnecessary and purely voyeuristic as apposed to useful (he did not attend).
The shoot took place on a small budget, it was before I had my own studio and I shot it in my lounge using a mix of friends, acquaintances and family members who had willing accepted my request for them to pose for a group nude portrait all the while tied into a rope harness.
I sourced the rope from a local rope supply store in Lakeside, Cape Town and incorporated garments with fabric that would be a little reminiscent of a kimono lifted up to expose the body underneath it.
The tying process was a struggle,- it takes a while to create such an end result and with 5 models one can’t make the first overly tight while she has to wait for a good two hours still until the shoot commences. I did this alone and had an amazing amount of patience from the 5 women.

The end result was good and very close to the initial sketch of the concept. Below is the final image.

I shot the images digitally, this was my second year working with my first digital camera and was also at a time when I was still working at least 50% with my film cameras.

Alan put together a small amount of text which appeared on the back of the card. When I read over it now, 8 years later I’m surprised I agreed to it.

I shot a small series of details at the end of the shoot which I’ve only selected and messed around with now (below).
I like the strong graphic play between the rope and the body shape.