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Swimming in Plain Sight: A Photo-essay on Bodies and Swimwear

Pretika Menon (Independent Artist, Goa, India)

The Postcolonial Sporting Body: Contemporary Indian Investigations

ISBN: 978-1-80455-783-9, eISBN: 978-1-80455-782-2

Publication date: 30 September 2024

Abstract

In this photo-essay, I engage with bodies in swimwear in both posed and candid fashion. Seeking out models, I put out an open call in my social media that I was looking for subjects who felt comfortable being photographed in their swimwear, without the angle of sexiness. I wanted to negate the sexual gaze on the body and the person, and instead create documentation and study of the body language, dress codes, and comfort levels of the Indian citizen. I juxtapose these photographs with a second set of images I shot is from my trip to Udupi, a small city in the southwestern state of Karnataka. These are photographs of the average Indian citizen, families, and small social groups by the sea in a very local yet touristy beach of South India.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgement

With grateful thanks to the models featured in this essay: Aadhidarshan T., Rini Alphonse Joseph, Gayatri Kalyani Kashyap, Aayushi Bhadauria, Isha Ashta, Moksha (Moe) Jain, and Preran Rai.

Citation

Menon, P. (2024), "Swimming in Plain Sight: A Photo-essay on Bodies and Swimwear", Mani, V. and Krishnamurthy, M. (Ed.) The Postcolonial Sporting Body: Contemporary Indian Investigations (Research in the Sociology of Sport, Vol. 20), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 209-228. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1476-285420240000020012

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2024 Pretika Menon