Chrysta Giffen
Giffen1
 Sex, 2014 (Ongoing series), archival pigment prints, 17 X 25 in. (each)
Artist Statement:My work is both informed by and in dialog with decades of sexual liberation history; from the uninhibited sexuality of the 1920s, to the porn wars of the 1980s, to the sex-positive feminist movement of today. Coming from this perspective of radical inclusiveness the focus and scope of this project is on celebrating all forms of sexual relationships without separation. The design and implementation of the grid is to place no hierarchy on a specific sexual orientation, but to blend the images as one cohesive expression of sexuality. For this series, intentionally dramatic lighting and formal image compositions represent a more conceptual document of sexuality. This series is the beginning of a new life-long project to include many more sexual preferences, gender expressions, relationship styles, and bodies of all shapes, sizes, and ages.”You do not know what you are missing by your micro-scopic examination of sexual activity to the exclusion of aspects which are the fuel that ignites it. Intellectual, imaginative, romantic, emotional. This is what gives sex its surprising textures, its subtle transformations, its aphrodisiac elements. …The source of sexual power is curiosity, passion. …No two skins with the same texture, and never the same light, temperature, shadows, never the same gesture; for a lover, when he is aroused by true love, can run the gamut of centuries of love lore. What a range, what changes of age, what variations of maturity and innocence, perversity and art.” ― Anaïs Nin, Delta of Venus