The Unique, Deformed, and Beautiful: The photography work of Joel-Peter Witkin

Amanda Brunner

Advanced Writing: Arts and Letters

Instructor: Brandy Hoffmann

7-21-10
Abstract

This research article explores Joel-Peter Witkin, an American photographer who deals

with themes such as sex, freaks, and death. Those are all topics with much emotion and meaning

for many people, and understanding the unknown with an open mind, might allow us to think

about our own lives in a different way.

Introduction:

I have been addicted to photography since 1999 when I took my first Intro to

Photography course in high school. That is when I first became interested in Annie Leibovitz. As

years went on, I wanted inspiration from other photographers that created work that left me

staying up half the night wondering about them, the subjects that they photographed, and what

their work meant. In 2007 I found that inspiration: Joel-Peter Witkin.

My photography instructor thought I needed to be challenged for my final portfolio

project, so she introduced me to the work of Joel-Peter Witkin. If only I had heard about him

sooner. I could barely look at Penitente (1982). (Witkin, Joel-Peter. Penitente, 1982). The image

consisted of three subjects nailed to three different crosses. At the center of the image was a nude

man masked, mouth open, with no hands—he was somehow nailed to the cross. Beside him on

each side was a smaller cross with a monkey nailed to each one. They all had an expression of

pain. I was very intimidated by that image. I was also terrified; I wanted nothing more than to

avert my eyes. Soon, my level of maturity took over, I became very intrigued, and I wanted to

know more. That evening I went home and immediately browsed more of Witkin’s work, and

read a couple of articles written by other admirers. Since that day, I have been obsessed.

Witkin is an American photographer who deals with themes such as death, sex, and

freaks. His subject matter consists of cadavers, dwarfs, transsexuals, hermaphrodites, the

physically deformed, ones who have unique sexual fetishes, and “ones who bare the wounds of

Christ.” (The Bone House, Joel-Peter Witkin). Witkin’s photographs have an ambivalent

quality. “Young/old, religious/non-religious, women haters/men haters, animal lovers/animal

haters, ugliness/beauty,” (Anonymous comment: Livejournal. 2010), Witkin creates a hybrid.

He photographs the social misfits—the freaks of our society, in an accepting and reverent way.
 It requires a certain kind of person to view the photographic work of Witkin. In this

article, be prepared to go deep into the unknown. Many different aspects of Witkin and his work

will be explored to gain a better understanding about him, and why he does what he does. Why

did Witkin become interested in death and amputees, and why are some people turned-off by his

photography work while others are not? We will explore why Witkin is considered controversial

while other photographers are not, and the misconceptions about his work and his significance to

me as an artist.

Exploring Witkin will allow us to understand where he is coming from as an artist,

whether we believe he is showing the beauty in the social misfits of our society, or if he is just

exploiting them to make his art. By understanding the reasons behind our negative reactions to

controversial art, we may come to understand our own, perhaps unfair, reactions to challenging

art.

Death:

A subject that people might find difficult to see the beauty in is death. According to a

book review written by Elizabeth Young, Joel-Peter Witkin has been described as “a demon,”

and another “Jeffery Dahmer.” (Young, Elizabeth. “Sacred and Profane.” 45 Web). One reason

why some people have described Witkin as a demon is because of the subject matter that he

sometimes photographs: Death. One photograph in particular, Feast of Fools is a good example

of this. A doctor took Witkin to the basement where the morgue was kept in the hospital to

gather a cadaver from a drawer, but the doctor opened the wrong drawer by mistake; inside the

drawer consisted of parts of babies floating around, among other body parts. Using these body

parts, Witkin created “Feast of Fools,” which consisted of a rotting infant, a few hands, a rotting
foot with a gaping hole, a leg, and fresh fruit. I can imagine the uproar that this image would

create, especially among people with strong pro-life convictions.

Photographing “Feast of Fools” was an incredible and an enlightening experience for

Witkin because, despite photographing a rotting infant, he realized that he did “have the capacity

to find beauty in the most vile, ugly things.”(Celant Germano, Witkin).

Another photograph in particular, The Kiss (1982) consists of a male head that was sliced

in half. The head was then brought together to make it seem like the man was kissing himself—a

form of self-acceptance. It is photographs like these that exemplify the reactions many people

have to Witkin’s work. Death is a topic with much emotion and meaning for many people, and

Witkin’s extremely matter-of-fact and near irreverent treatment of death can cause extreme

reactions in some people.

The average person does not like to be confronted by death, and in Witkin’s photographic

work, we are forced to confront the issues that we fear the most. Why is it that humans want to

avert their eyes when they are confronted with imagery that makes them uncomfortable—yet

they still look the second or third time? “As far as we know, we are the only species that knows

and understands the reality of death before it happens.” (Daniel Liechty: Reaction to Mortality.

46). Daniel Liechty claims that we have a certain understanding about death from a young age.

We know that death is a reality for all of us. Despite—or perhaps because of—this knowledge,

we are terrified of it. We never know when death will approach us; we must live with not

knowing. We all need to understand that yes, it will happen—whether we like it or not. That

said, people would be more accepting of death if they realize that it is part of life. Instead, we

fear death because it is unexplained. When Witkin photographs cadavers, even if they are rotting

infants, he is trying to show us the other side of life.

Sex:

Sex is another topic with much emotion and meaning for many people. A photographer

who has sparked controversy like Witkin is John Santerineross. He is a Neo-Symbolist

photographer whose “aesthetic was derived from a mix of his exposure to Catholicism and

Santeria as a child.” (Santerineross, John. Web. 20 June 2010). According to a book review

written by Elizabeth Young, Joel-Peter Witkin has been compared to many photographers, and

many still believe he is the “most controversial photographer in the world.” (Young, Elizabeth.

“Sacred and Profane.” 45 Web.) I find that hard to believe when you have Santerineross out in

the world making photographs that some, including myself, find even more controversial.

The major difference between Witkin and Santerineross is that Witkin is an equal

opportunity photographer and Santerineross is not. Witkin exploits both men and women, and

Santerineross seems to exploit women just because they are women. For example, in Dream

(Santerineross, John. Dream, 2004) a woman has barbed wire tightly wrapped around her with

jagged lines of blood dripping down her arms. She is reaching out for help, but no one is there to

help her. Her face is completely covered with bondage headgear, taking away her identity. The

only parts of her that are free are her breasts and vagina. She is made to seem as an object for

someone to take advantage of.

Witkin’s photography work showcases the pain that men and women go through because

of their physical abnormalities, and sexual fetishes—but he is not degrading them through the

photographs that he creates. He shows their pain, but he also shows their beauty. Witkin has said

of his work,“The people in all of my images were myself.” (Celant Germano, Witkin). Witkin

identifies as a freak, as a person who has endured pain, and that is why the people in his

photographs are himself. He may have gone through similar situations as his subjects. As a child,
he may have felt like a social outcast. He continues to be socially ostracized because of the

photography work that he creates. Witkin does not mind though because he is proud of the work

he creates—as I am proud of the work I create.

In his photography, Santerineross shows pain. His photographs depict women, not as

women, but objects for men to get turned-on by. He does not relate to his subject matter, which

consist of mainly women. The women are bound, nude, blindfolded, and helpless; degraded in

every way. By taking photographs of women who are shown as degraded, he exploits them. He

takes every part that was once that woman, away.

On the other hand, most of the women that Witkin photographs are elevated; he elevates

them emotionally, physically, or spiritually. He poses the women to look like goddesses from

classical paintings. They look beautiful, and they seem to be at ease in his photographs. Their

facial expressions indicate that they are accepting themselves as they are.

Freaks:

Freaks are another subject matter that can stir much emotion and meaning for many

people. Many individuals feel that freaks are less than human, or just spectacles for people to

gawk at—to laugh at. To Witkin, freaks are beautiful.

“I also photographed freak shows - in fact that's where I started. To me

they seemed so much more interesting than the people who were watching

them, more wonderful, more like physical manifestations of something

unique. My gift is to deal with horror and pain, knowing that in horror and

pain there is something sacred.” (Source 10: Joel Peter Witkin, Frank

Horvat’s intverview).
 Some individuals may feel that Witkin just wants to make the freaks appear more

freakish—more twisted in the photographs. That is not the case, especially for Jacqueline

Tellalian, a model that he photographed. “He never made me feel as though we was using my

disability as a sensational aspect of the picture. I had no idea what it would turn out to be. I

hoped that he was not going portray me as someone who was going to be freakish than I could

possibly be considered as.” (Vile Bodies: Part 1. Jacqueline Tellalian).

As a paraplegic, Jacqueline Tellalian was made to look more beautiful than she had

always felt. “There is beauty to deformity on some levels if you allow yourself to see it as, not

necessarily deformed, but different, and knowing that not everybody is perfectly proportioned.”

(Vile Bodies: Part 1. Jacqueline Tellalian). Right now, people honor the empty beauty in our

society, and we need to perhaps examine our assumptions about beauty, to try to see the beauty

each person has in their own uniqueness.

Witkin’s choice of subject matter:

Why does Witkin want to photograph people with different sexual fetishes, death, or

people who would be considered freaks by society? When looking at Witkin’s imagery, the

people in his photographs are ones who would not be considered the norm of our society—

amputees, sexual fetishists, and people with physical abnormalities. Witkin does not want to

photograph the typical beautiful person because “he does not find them interesting,” (Vile

Bodies: Part 1. Joel-Peter Witkin), there is nothing to them—they are empty. But where did

Witkin gain this ability to see the beauty in the scorned and feared?

Witkin grew up with a Jewish father and a Roman Catholic mother, but at a young age

his parents divorced due to their religious differences. Growing up in a religious home with

parents who had different religious beliefs must have been hard for Witkin. Imagine being pulled
back and forth—butting heads, when it came to what his parents wanted him to believe in. Since

he experienced that, it must have created tension in the home environment, and in part of his

upbringing, religion has played a factor when he creates his masterpieces.

Witkin also claims that the death of a little girl played a factor in his influence. At a

young age, he witnessed a car accident during which a girl was decapitated. The head of the girl

rolled to Witkin’s feet by the curb, and just as he was about to touch it, to speak to it, someone

snatched him away.

Witkin may have witnessed a car accident when he was a child, but it is unlikely that he

witnessed a car accident during which he saw the head of a decapitated girl roll to his feet. Think

about it. In every online article, in every book, it talks about the car accident and how that plays

an influence in his photography work. Is he just saying that to shock people—to add to his

mystery? There is only one person who will ever know the answer to that question, and that is

Witkin himself.

Witkin, tell us what really influenced you. We all want to know.

An understanding:

People have a natural instinct to look away from Witkin’s imagery, which contains

elements such as nudity, violence, human sexuality, deformity, and death. He combines some of

those elements, if not all, into one single image; it is no wonder that the imagery speaks to people

on so many different levels. “Those are subjects we fear, but are forced to live with everyday.”

(Erin Forstner. Livejournal. 2010). We were brought up to hide those elements, even though we

deal with them on a semi or regular basis. Loved ones die, no one would exist if it was not for

sex, we all experience pain at some point in our lives, and imagery of sex is seen everywhere.

Things like this cannot be ignored. Instead of allowing ourselves to look at his photographs in a
beautiful way, many of us look at them in a taboo way. It is not Witkin who makes us look at

them that way—it is us.

Once people start looking at Witkin’s work, they cannot look away. They want to keep

flipping through the pages in the book, or they want to keep scrolling through the images on the

Internet because they want to know what the next image will bring them. People are drawn to his

work because he is trying to express “the things we are supposed to repress and ignore” through

his imagery. (Anonymous comment, Livejournal. 2010)

Significance to art world and to me:

Witkin plays an important part in the art world, especially for photographers. He has

taken the time to inform the general public of his technique, and by giving us an understanding

of his photographic process, he is giving us tools to create our own unique process. The best art

out there is art that makes you think outside the box, is emotional, and evocative. Witkin is a

valuable source of inspiration for any artist wishing to inject more emotion into his or her own

artwork. He finds his subjects fascinating and beautiful, and his work can help artists realize that

there is more out in this world to paint, draw, or even photograph besides what society defines as

beautiful.

I am not your typical attractive person, nor do I create photographs of the typical

attractive person. I used to, but not any more. At one time, I worked as a fashion photographer

for a modeling agency and the photographs that I created felt empty. The photographs that I now

create show the kind of beauty that I am interested in—inner beauty. I am one of the artists that

Witkin has inspired.

For five years now, I have had the desire and ambition to create work that has a lasting

effect on the viewer. I need to be that photographer who you think about while driving home
from the opening reception. I want to make emotional and evocative work for the love of it, I

want to push peoples’ buttons, and I want people to understand me. Photographers—or any artist

for that matter—should make art for the love it, and they should feel free to be controversial if

they want to.

Witkin makes me want to create similar work. I do not need to photograph cadavers and

such because I do not have the desire to be a copycat. I do however, have the desire to push

boundaries, and I also wish to photograph the social misfits of our society. All of my life, I have

always felt like a social misfit. I did not have a lot of friends in school, got teased about my

weight constantly since kindergarten, and I knew I was attracted to women by the time I was ten

years old. How much more miss fitted could I get? My weight plays a large factor on why I feel

like a misfit, and the way people have treated me because of my weight. In an attempt to show

self-acceptance, in much the same way Witkin elevates his models, I drew heavily upon Witkin’s

work to create a series for Photo II: Alternative Processes with Wanda Pearcy at the University

of Minnesota Duluth.

I was required to complete a cyanotype project based around three major components:

something that I never photographed before, something that I am scared of, and something that I

am in awe of. Before I had heard anything else about the assignment, I immediately knew what I

wanted to accomplish. Since high school, I never wanted to be in front of the camera. I hated my

body image. That is why I became addicted to the idea of being behind the camera instead.

I never photographed myself before. I am in awe of myself because I am still able to walk

and be slightly active even though I am morbidly obese. I am terrified of myself because my

obesity holds me back on so many levels, and I am also terrified for my own health.
 Before we took a nosedive into the project, I was required to present a power point

presentation—in front of the entire class—with 10 (starter) photographs that I shot for my

project, 10 photographs of Witkin’s and explain the connection between the photographs: pain

and beauty.

As the semester went on, so did the visual critiques, and I realized that there was more of

a connection between Witkin’s and my work than I had originally anticipated—not in the work

itself necessarily, but in the reactions it evoked. Some of my classmates appreciated what I

created, some of my classmates were horrified, and some were shocked. Some stated that it was

very hard for them to look at my images because they thought of them as taboo. They were the

ones who grew up in households where nudity, bondage, etc were off limits, or was not talked

about. Those were the classmates who still looked at the images even if they did not want to.

I relate to the social misfits of our society because I am one. I know what it is like to have

a mental illness, I know what it is like to be physically incapacitated, I know what it is like to be

gawked at, and I know what it is like to rejected. In my future photography work I want to show

how other peoples’ adversity has made them stronger.

Conclusion:

Witkin’s photography work stands out from the typical portrait photographer. We will

not always remember the cute little baby posed in a bucket simulating taking a bath such as the

work of Anne Geddes, but we will always remember the work of Joel-Peter Witkin. We will

think about him at dinner, while driving to work, and before we go to bed at night. He is the

photographer that has gotten etched into our minds and he is there to stay. All in all, Witkin is

not some demon as people set out for him to be. There are other issues in this world to worry

about than to worry about some photographer who might have a different way of looking at the
world than most people do. Witkin’s photography work makes us think outside the box and it

makes us think about our own lives in a different way.

Oh, by the way Witkin, I would like to be one of your subjects now. Can I please? I

promise to be good.

Amanda Brunner is attending the University of Minnesota Duluth. She wants to major in

Digital Art and Photography, but she has yet to pass her portfolio review.
 Sources Cited



Brunner,
Amanda.
Joel­Peter
Witkin.
25
June
2010.
Web.


<http://joelpeterwitkin.livejournal.com/>.

"Horvatland
‐
Frank
Horvat
Photographie:
Entre
Vues
‐
Joel
Peter
Witkin."
Horvatland
­


Frank
Horvat
Photography:
Home
/
Frank
Horvat
Photographie:
Accueil.
Web.
23


June
2010.
<http://www.horvatland.com/pages/entrevues/12‐witkin‐en_fr.htm>.

Liechty, Daniel: Reaction to Mortality: An Interdisciplinary Organzing Principle for the Human

Sciences. 46

Santerineross,
John.
The
Neo­Symbolist
Photography
of
John
Santerineross.
Web.
20
June


2010.
<http://www.santerineross.com/>.

Vile Bodies Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i19-SmPWuq4

Vile Bodies Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bO7_HGb_CtQ&feature=related

Witkin, Joel-Peter, and Germano Celant. Witkin. Zurich: Scalo, 1995. Print.

Witkin, Joel-Peter. The Bone House. Santa Fe, NM: Twin Palms, 1998. Print.

Witkin,
Joel‐Peter.
Message
to
the
author.
E‐mail.

Young, Elizabeth. "Sacred and Profane." (1994): 45. Web