PAVLOV’S PIPES AND SCREWS is a photographic exploration of the pervasive and immortal nature of sex in advertising. Taking the form of a stall at a construction expo, this series provides a caricature of photographic advertising campaigns that promote a very different fantasy from the product they sell. The product in question for this series is a ‘rural tapping saddle’, chosen for its completely bland and obscure nature. When paired with images of attractive young adults posing suggestively in a glamorous and polished studio environment, an interesting juxtaposition is created. This humorously polarising distinction between the attractive and the dull invites its audience to consider how much space innuendo and sex appeal can take up in the realm of commercial photography, and to what extent consumers are being classically conditioned to hold unrealistic sexual expectations for the things they are sold.
My practice is largely guided by humour and parody. Pavlov’s Pipes and Screws is no exception to this. Using especially fashion-oriented portraiture, my work seeks to disrupt narratives surrounding the rules of advertising. Inspired by the works of Slavoj Žižek, I take a post-modernist approach to my photography; I am highlighting the absurdity of living in a world run by marketing.
instagram.com/jamesbarasmiller
jamesbaras-miller.myportfolio.com
