Interviewing the founder
2020

A: Hi everyone. We are with Alexander Norton, founder of Künstler, Künstlerin.

A: hey

A: hey. So how’ve you been doing Alex?

A: pretty good. I’m working through a lot of stuff at the moment. Creatively I’m working on photo projects dealing with our current situation.

A: ah, how so?

A: well, been seeing a lot of creative work around isolation and felt there’s a tone of taking care of yourself within the work. I wanted to wait before I made something in response to this. It’s a strange environment to create when the subject is so obviously in front of us.

A: ah yeah. I see. So how have these ideas matriculated?

A: I’ve been fasting the past week and as a result of the weight loss and adaptation there comes a sense of rediscovering your body and claiming it back. It also brings out all the bad stuff in your body and I feel there was a lot. I’ve always felt uncomfortable in my own body, growing up male societally. I always found it harder to position my body in social environments. As a result I probably developed negative body language and a bad posture. In growing into my body I felt the sensation that I was mistreating it. It’s led me to consider what it means to look uncomfortable and take this to extremes in a series of nude self portraits.

A: nice. What’s that series called?

A: uncomfortable sitting positions

A: Very good. And so is the series mainly photographs? Are there other elements?

A: yeah I’m planning to make sculptures of characters who have no head but bodies like mine. They are self portrait figures that accompany the work. It also includes drawings that influence the body positions I create in the photographs. All three elements work together to dictate the direction of the project.

A: and what’s your relationship to the nude portrait?

A: honestly not so much. But it’s always intrigued me. Not from vanity reasons but more from what being naked means. For example, if you are wearing a towel then you are more “naked” than if you’ve got real clothes on. But your covered right? Everyone is naked under clothes and your body can’t lie to anyone. It is the size it is. Some clothes can change the body but the base is still your body.

A: that’s true. Never thought of that. Have you considered going to nudist areas? How do you plan on being naked in more varied environments?

A: that’s what I’ve been considering. A spin off project that plays on a poem I wrote once -

I go to the naked beaches

And look at the people

A: that’s a bit weird right?

A: yeah that’s the point. It’s a creepy thing to observe naked people you don’t know. But if we were observing people with clothes on it would be different. Just the clothes are the different element. That’s all. How do we see our body as private or with shame because were told this? The title is on purpose.

A: so what do you plan to do at the naked beaches?

A: I wanted to produce naked self portraits in these spaces. Because you can be naked there; you have to be naked there. Clothes are not allowed. It’s like crossing a threshold into another plane - without clothes but without shame. If we look at all the Instagram controversy regarding censorship with nipples etc we see that we at our core see nakedness as sexual. The nudists don’t. Everyone’s different but I think if someone saw me naked and I didn’t know them it would not scar me. But for some it would. With my transition I am meant to hide my male part. And I do. But naked I can wear myself and it’s always changing. People also use clothes to judge or gain some idea of who you are. These are all ideas. But your naked body is real, everything else is created. You didn’t chose your body, it was given to you exactly the way it is.

A: as a transgender woman how do you feel this subject will come in?

A: I have a lot of respect for work around transitioning, however it’s not how I want to approach it. For me, being transgender is a result of being born. It’s there. You find out - adapt and proceed as a human being. There are a lot of hurdles for people cross in different situations. But from a purely physical level it’s about trying to wage peace with your body and accept some of the permanent fixtures and adapt what you need. Your spirit is girl, so the rest is circumstantial. I would try not to bring in my transition because it’s about nakedness - not transness.

A: I see. Well it was lovely to talk to you about this. It seems this chat really helped you work your ideas out.

A: yeah for sure. It’s nice to talk to you.

A: we look forward to seeing your work. And stay safe.

You can find more of Alexander’s work here