It all began one day when I was appreciating the work of some contemporary photographers on Instagram. Beautiful images in black and grey, various exposures, the light and shadow. But then I saw the disruption, the blemish that is the censorship of nipples on nude women, the scar of vandalism on an artist’s work. Instagram will argue that they do not allow this level of nudity in order to meet their own community standards - whatever that means, considering they allow everything else. I do not blame Instagram; I blame our society…our stupid society - ignorant in art, sexuality, and frankly, humanity. My anger in that moment led me to carve my first Nipple Brooch.
Initially, I thought that would be it, I carved the Nipple and that alone was my statement, my protest for the injustice of artistic censorship. Then I began to think more about nipples. How strange that the nipple became the scapegoat for the continuance of sexual oppression and puritan fear. The blurred nipple is a symbol of inequality. Unbeknownst to many, a woman in New York can walk down the street topless without fear of legal persecution, even though others might protest her freedoms. In contrast, in other states, a woman breast feeding in public could face fines for indecent exposure, or even be arrested. How odd that the nipple elicits such contempt, as though we have forgotten its true purpose as the spout for human sustenance.
Besides the protest of inequality and censorship, what other reason would I have to create the number of Nipple Brooches that I did? The blurring of the nipples in photographs and even paintings, and simply in our society, takes away a point of detail that in most cases is not the focus of the work. The nipple does not define the nude form. Think about it… The Powers-that-be allow us to see the entirety of the breast in all its variations, but the nipple, that shows little detail from afar, is blocked from our view. It is mind boggling!
Our society objectifies the nipple, curiously making it something that it is not. While I am sure that they are out there, I have never met a man who is sexually attracted specifically to the nipple. Likewise, I have never seen any pornographic photography that concentrated its attention on the nipple. In a sense, the details of the nipple have always been blurred. And so, as any artist does, I looked closer to see what our society was keeping me from seeing. The Nipple is Beautiful. In the uniqueness of their form, in the singularity of their function; the nipple is beautiful.
The Nipple Brooches represent very real and natural nipples. They are not exact copies of the original nipples, but take on the most noticeable characteristics - the shape of the areola, the height of the nipple itself, and of course the ever expressive Montgomery Glands - those truly fascinating “bumps.”
The Boob Ring is conceptually similar to the reality of the Nipple - that from afar it appears to be a simple, modern designed silver ring, much like from afar the nipple may appear to be a round pink spot, but upon closer inspection both reveal themselves to be so much more.
After becoming so engrossed in breast and nipple inspired designs, and seeing my quiet protest doing far less than what the Free the Nipple Movement was already doing, it occurred to me that if I could do anything to help - as I should - it would be to help the subject matter of my designs. That is why 15% of Nipple Brooches, Nipple Studs, and The Boob Ring will go to Breast Cancer Research. My protest against censorship and inequality may not achieve much, but helping in the search for the cure to cancer is the more valuable cause. Some nipples can wait to be free, others cannot.
PV3