David Simpson Guarded Conditions

Figure 3, Guarded conditions (1989) shows repetitions of eighteen polaroids of a woman in a white dress, with text below. Her posture signifies that she is guarded as she is facing away from the camera with her arms crossed behind her back. It is clear that she is guarding something, the beholder does not know what, but it could be assumed a identity or a secret. The position of her arms portrays a sense of nervousness, as though she is shielding something from the viewer. It is suggested that "Simpson's work is built on the juxtaposition and gesture of re-enactment" (Simon, 2013, p9). When interpreting the language used in this image, "sex attack, skin attack", one could suggest that the secret to why she is guarded may be realised by the viewer. Therefore one could argue that Guarded conditions is a "gesture of re-enactment" to a memory in the subjects life- a sex attack. Simpson's work frequently explores the
One could argue that in figure 1 the image by itself does not completely produce a conversation about gender, race, or sexual abuse. Suggesting that the image is a subjective representation, as it is not accurate at depicting these ideas, thus is it not trustful. One could question how a photograph can be a true representation of something if it is only a posed alienated moment. Nonetheless this questionable 'trust' could also be considered when evaluating the text. The text “skin attack, sex attack” produces assumptions of a situation, yet it is still ambiguous to who, what, and how the situation has occurred. Thus linking back to what Fusco stated "Simpson points to the inadequacies of language - written and photographic” (1993, p27), as here both image and text produce ambiguities. Thus alike to Martha Rosler, Simpson's within Simpson's work image and text are also inadequate at producing the transparent