Reclining Nude Unknown
Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, United States

Reclining Nude Unknown examines the historical construction of the nude and the instability of gendered perception within that tradition. The work situates the body within a fragmented and reflective environment, where viewing becomes unstable and continuously mediated.

The installation assembles shattered plexiglass, suspended steel rings, salt, water, and photographic elements to form a field that is both reflective and obstructive. These materials produce a shifting visual plane through which the body is encountered, interrupting clarity and resisting a singular point of view.

At the center of the work is a transparency referencing Female Nude, Reclining, in Profile by Julien Vallou de Villeneuve, re-staged through the artist’s own body. This citation is disrupted by an improperly exposed salt print, in which the body is misread and incorrectly gendered, exposing the instability of visual recognition and the assumptions embedded within it.

Light, reflection, and distortion prevent a fixed image. The body emerges through layers—fractured, mediated, and partially obscured—refusing resolution.

Reclining Nude Unknown positions the nude not as a stable category, but as a projection shaped by historical image-making and the interpretive frameworks of the viewer.
Photography by Getsay.