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GNOUL, ‘BODY’ IN FANG

Gnoul is a collaboration between photographer Michèle Bygodt, makeup artist Iki Lee and each of the models being portrayed.

Portrait from GNOUL, a contemporary photography series by Michèle Bygodt exploring Black identity and representation.

In this series of black and white photographs, the models are fully-covered in dark paint. This representation of Blackness is taken from minstrelsy, a form of entertainment that mocked Black people by exaggerating their physical features.

Gnoul is a witnessing of the prevailing views of what it means and what it looks like to be Black. In this work, the models are contortionists, posing in uncomfortable positions and staring daringly into the camera lens, accentuating the performance of Blackness by performing it as strange and foreign. This is a representation of Blackness that has existed for centuries.

Gnoul is a witnessing of what it means to be feared, desired, and deliberately misunderstood. It presents Blackness, rather than re-presenting it. These photographs are not mediated through the imaginations of a white gaze, or the outside gaze of anyone with more privilege.

❋ 2021

Telephone Gallery, Vancouver
Solo exhibition

WUL Magazine, Publication
Interviewed by Nastasia Khmelnitski, founder of WUL Magazine

❋ 2022

The Gauntlet, Publication
Reflecting on The Bows’ Gnoul Exhibition: On police brutality and the experience of Blackness

ReIssue, Publication
On visibility and the experience of Blackness // A reflection on Gnoul

The Bows, Calgary
Solo exhibition
Gnoul: A Benefit Exhibition for the Family of Latjor Tuel

From June 17 to July 9, 2022, The Bows exhibited Gnoul: A Benefit Exhibition for the Family of Latjor Tuel, who died at the hands of police violence in Calgary, the focal point of this project being his daughter and model Nyalingat Latjor, shot by photographer Michèle Bygodt.

A dark black and white portrait of a black woman, appearing to be nude looking away with sleepy eyes

Tragically, the project was conceptualized before his death and was initially aimed at encapsulating the dehumanization of Black people — how their existence and subsequent treatment has historically been whittled down to physical appearance. “When we were talking about bringing attention to Black oppression through art during the George Floyd rallies, I never thought I would be going through the same thing” said Latjor in a statement…
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