Instrument of Misery

Instrument of Misery is an ongoing Anglo-Japanese portrait project concerned with the body, sadness, sexuality, gender, and personal expression through the lens of intimate black and white portraits. Accompanying the pictures will be sections of semi-structured interviews exploring what it is to be looked at naked.

The Project

Instrument of Misery aims to compare and contrast the different ways we think about our body. Sadness is an inevitable part of life and yet we often avoid talking about it. I long to show people in a position of vulnerability, but strength. Both revealed and hidden. Aiming to embrace the realities of our collective and individual struggles with our bodies, our sex, our gender, our place in the world, and our minds.

This is not an attempt to resolve or conclude this sadness, but rather begin to tackle with it.

Nudity in any context can be incredibly intimidating for anyone, and often places the viewed party in a position of vulnerability. Every person I’ve talked to whilst taking these photos expressed discomfort with elements of their physical appearance. Regardless of their relative comfort with me taking photos of them, all participants have had experiences -from the most banal, to most serious – in which their bodies were made to be out of place, uncomfortable, strange, or violated by the eyes and actions of others. This is why mutual and cooperative creation of the project's photos and interviews are of the highest importance. I am looking to explore a difficult subject, not to reinforce such difficulty.

2019 - Ongoing

I want to attempt to embrace feelings of vulnerability, insecurity, sadness, and find the power in surrendering to the misery of our bodies. Just as a fever is not a cause of one’s illness but rather a symptom, the bodies attempt to right itself, maybe too sadness is an unavoidable and natural part of our minds desire to resolve problems. To come to terms with our bodies and ourselves we needn’t avoid misery.

Finally I long to try and reverse a key relationship between photographer, and subject, between viewer and viewed. Scopophilia is often an implicit element of viewing naked photos, so disrupting that element seemed important to change how the photos are seen. Those involved looked directly into the camera, and when placed side by side project the power of their power together.

Taking part

The project is currently ongoing - if you are interested in participating, contact me via email (rueoreilly@outlook.com) or on Instagram (ardeavalley).

If you want to contact other people who have modelled in the project to hear their opinions and feelings on the process, just let me know! I can put you in touch.