Sex for sale: Petra Kleis and Rune Gade
Photo Talk with one of Denmark's most recognised photographers, Petra Kleis. In conversation with associate professor and author Rune Gade, she will discuss nudity, bodies and visual pornography today.
"I think that skin is enormously beautiful, and you can peel away some of the facade and shield from people by taking their clothes off. In a way, you get the pure person. You can take off the status symbols by taking off your clothes.”
This is what the Danish star photographer Petra Kleis says. In a time when we frequently discuss the way we look at each other and how we portray people in the media, Kleis has created her very own way of capturing people and especially their bodies through photography. Her pictures contain great tenderness and nakedness - both literally and figuratively.
Photo: Petra Kleis
All kinds of bodies
It is difficult to describe exactly what makes a photograph 'Kleisian', because they are very diverse both in their expression and in their motifs. They are pictures of people, but people with all kinds of bodies, in all sizes and in all colours. This is an important point for Kleis, who insists on being very inclusive in relation to body ideals and wants to represent the world's diversity in her work.
"The thin girls don't have to go away completely, they are also part of the picture of diversity, but we also have to have the fat, brown and yellow ones."
The lucky ones who are photographed not only differ from each other in shape and colour but also in background, and in Kleis' extensive portfolio you will find everything from musicians and actors to politicians and former prime ministers.
Sex for sale
Kleis will be in conversation with Rune Gade, associate professor at the Department of Arts and Cultural Studies and author of the book Gender in Art in the Body. The conversation has its starting point in the room 'Visual pornography as a commodity' in the Royal Danish Library's historical exhibition on photography, The Camera and Us.
'Visual pornography as a commodity' illuminates the development of image pornography from something criminal to the time when Denmark was the first country to legalise it and on to an international capitalist mega-industry. It is a huge genre. On the internet's most popular site, Pornhub, pornographic videos were viewed more than 109 billion times in 2019 – more than 14 videos per inhabitants of the planet. And yet it is a genre we usually do not talk about – or ask critical questions about.
The conversation here will take a critical look at image pornography today – how we look at bodies, how the industry is changing and what role gender plays in it.
Participants
Petra Kleis
Petra Kleis is one of Denmark's most recognised and in-demand photographers. With clarity and tenderness, she captures everything from actors and politicians to musicians and artists in her portraits. Several of her photographs are among the most iconic of the past ten years.
Rune Gade
Rune Gade has a master's degree & PhD in art history, and is associate professor at the Department of Arts and Cultural Studies at the University of Copenhagen and author of the book Gender in Art in the Body.
