Juke Schoorl is a photographer who has worked with skin, manipulating and shaping it without photoshop, using near invisible materials like fishing wire and tape to change the way that skin usually looks. The series, called Rek, almost mirrors scarification in some ways and has, in my opinion, tribal influences in others.
With 'Rek' (stretch in Dutch) I explore the aesthetic possibilities of the human skin through a mixture of image capturing techniques. By manipulating this curious stretchable material with various low budget materials like nylon fishing rope and cello tape I am able to temporarily shape it into surprising textures and shapes. Highlighting not only it’s flexibility and adaptability but also it’s function as our own biological upholstery that aside from it’s protective capabilities could also serve as a medium for aesthetic expression, possibly in the form of a dress less fashion.
-(Juuke Schoorl, online, 2014)
The majority of the photographs from this series do not show the models face which I find interesting, and I believe that this is so as not to distract from the idea of skin itself. This is very beneficial in showing the issue of skin and identity - each photo has a strong statement of identity even though you can't see the face of the subject. As a makeup designer, this may not be beneficial to include in my own work, however it could be interesting to include shots of solo body parts interspersed with my models to create a similar feeling that the main emphasis is on the identity of the skin itself and not necessarily the identity of the face, which is how we usually perceive people.
