Photographer: Tracey Moffatt – ‘Under the Sign of Scorpio’ (2005)

To conclude the project ‘Masquerades’ the course notes look at a specific body of work by Tracey Moffatt entitled Under the Sign of Scorpio (2005).Moffatt was born under the zodiac sign of Scorpio and was intrigued by the characteristics and personalities of other Scorpio women.  Under the Sign of Scorpio is a series of forty images where Moffatt masquerades as various famous female Scorpios, dressing up and playing the part of each woman. Where Moffatt differs from Nikki S. Lee and Trish Morrissey, whose work I looked at earlier, is that she does not attempt a successful disguise; she is more of an amateur impersonator who tries to show the character of each woman rather than a true likeness, with Bright (2010) writing that ‘Moffatt becomes the famous woman in her head rather than convincing an audience of her acting abilities’ (p. 128).  She makes the act of impersonation clear through the presentation of her work; her contact sheets show her getting into character as well as the basic construction of her studio where she shot the images.  Learning the signature gestures and the attitude of each woman could take her weeks (Douglas, 2005) and Bright (2010) tells us that this process of ‘becoming’ each woman was, for Moffatt, the point of the work.  This is evidenced by the fact that her contact sheets showing the development of each adopted persona form an integral part of the series.

Moffatt’s processing is bright, often with the use of special effects and neon colours, which gives a pop-art, almost caricature-like feel to many of the images and I am reminded of Andy Warhol’s work in many ways.   I really like her different approach to the subject of self-portraiture although I couldn’t work out what she was ultimately trying to communicate.  The course notes help out here by telling us that the work isn’t really about either the photographer or the subject rather that Moffatt ‘is using herself to enter into the assumed psychological space of celebrity.’ (Boothroyd, 2014, p. 81).

As I am currently not interested in pursuing the genre of self-portraiture in my own work, Moffatt is not a photographer who I would be influenced by at this stage of my studies.  What I do take away from her work is her novel approach and styling, the way she has looked at creating a masquerade in a different way from other photographers I have looked at and yet still explores the notion of identity.  I am always on the lookout for something a little different, both in my day-to-day life as well as in my photography and I found Moffatt’s work to be refreshingly different.

References:

Boothroyd, S. (2014) Part Three: Putting yourself in the picture.  Photography 1 : Context and Narrative, Open College of the Arts

Bright, S. (2010) Auto Focus: The Self-Portrait in Contemporary Photography. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd

Douglas, S. (2005) Tracey Moffatt: New Work in New York  [online]. Australian Art Collector. Available from http://www.artcollector.net.au/Assets/566/1/33_moffatt.pdf [accessed 14 January 2015]

Moffatt, T. (2005) Being – Under the Sign of Scorpio [online images]. Rosyln Oxley9 Gallery. Available from http://www.roslynoxley9.com.au/artists/26/Tracey_Moffatt/385/ [accessed 14 January 2015]

Moffatt, T. (2005) Under the Sign of Scorpio [online images]. Rosyln Oxley9 Gallery. Available from http://www.roslynoxley9.com.au/artists/26/Tracey_Moffatt/380/ [accessed 14 January 2015]