“275 Scans, 10 individual bodies, 1 eternal Family”

“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? … For the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.”  1 Corinthians 3:16-17

Two of the most important things in my life that have made me who I am today, are my family and my religion. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, commonly referred to as Mormon. I am the oldest of 8 children and was raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. Before moving to New York City to study photography, I had only seen a handful of nude bodies, including my own. Upon moving here, I discovered that nudes are not all pornographic, and that they exist outside of old European paintings and statues. I was suddenly surrounded by all these images of nude bodies that were perceived in a way that was contrary to the conservative teachings of my religion.  

Growing up I was taught that  the two most important things about our bodies were that they should be considered a gift and a temple. In the Mormon faith, we believe that the body was created in the image of God and given to each of us so that we may live upon the earth. We believe that before coming to the earth, we lived in heaven or what we call ‘the premortal existence’. It is told that we rejoiced at the opportunity to gain a body and come to the earth. Because of this belief, we see our bodies as the most precious gift that we will ever be given and thus we are taught to take care of them as such. We do not do anything to our bodies that would be harmful or disrespectful. Our bodies are not a thing to objectify, but rather a means for us to live this life in order to return to our Heavenly Father. For this reason, I was overwhelmed and uncomfortable with the amount of intimate self expression people felt compelled to share in the photography world. Since living here, and living on my own, I have had to discover my religious beliefs for myself and while I still believe all the things I was taught at a young age, I have come to have a respect for the beauty and elegance that the body can provide as a work of art. 

A huge aspect of this series of images, in regards to my religion is the clothing that my mother and I are encouraged to wear. The white shorts and cap sleeved shirt are garments that are worn after participating in a sacred ceremony within our temple. The ceremony is so sacred to us that we do not speak of it outside the walls of the temple. There is no specific age in which you are required to participate, however most choose to do so at some point in their twenties and it is required to be done before being married in the temple. Our garments have specific meanings and blessing associated with them, and much like the body, we choose to keep them covered and have been asked not to put them on display. While my father also wears these garments, he chose to remove his top garment and cover his bottoms with a pair of shorts because he is more conservative in his belief about exposure. 

I chose to use a scanner as a way to survey the body and capture every detail in a way that a camera can not. In the process of making each image, I begin by sitting in a dark room with one of my younger siblings or parent. I uncomfortably ask them to take off as may pieces of clothing as they feel comfortable in. I then pressed the cold glass of the scanner against their skin and wait five seconds until the scanner has finished recording the image. I then move the scanner to the next part on their body and repeat the process approximately 30 times in complete awkward silence. Because of my religion, my siblings and I rarely see each other the slightest bit unclothed; making these pictures was uncharted territory for us all. Once I have taken all the scans, I am able to inspect each body part and put them in the place that I feel they should proportionally fit. I smooth out the connecting lines as best as I can and I slowly create the body of one of my family members. Each completed image is an unflattering, disproportionate, extremely detailed portrait of a member of my family, and each one gives specific and different information about the person who inhabits the body. Together, they act as a family portrait and a survey of a culture and religious belief.