This is kind of a pretty picture, isn't it? I got it from a series of photos posted on Foto Decadent that Steven Meisel shot for Vogue Italia. Check out the rest of the pictures though. My first reaction was that they were kind of unsettling. The whole sex and violence thing, sex being used as a tool of war. Though in a way some of the pictures are certainly effective, even beautiful. It's pretty interesting to read the comments and discussions the photos spark, because of course it's art and art can provoke and be vulgar and still be meaningful and worthwhile. On one hand, I don't mind the idea of fashion, usually quite shallow and "pretty", being the vehicle for controversy. On the other hand, do I really want to see this in the pages of a glossy fashion mag? Maybe I do. Or maybe I'd be more comfortable with it if there was some anti-war feeling to it, if it didn't kind of glamourize and fetishize the brutality. I wonder how soldiers serving in Afghanistan would react to this? Four more Canadians were killed recently; how sexy is that?What do you think?
Some of the images are certainly more disturbing than others. But in the end I think the photos are a good thing, since they (hopefully) get people talking about the war. But not in every magazine- the shallow, pretty fashion stuff can make a nice escape sometimes too. :)
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