Sondra Meszaros two blazing glares, for her pierce

In the exhibition two blazing glares, for her pierce, Sondra Meszaros continues her ongoing exploration of counter-narratives of female sexuality and representation. Through the act of collecting and reworking erotic photographic images from instructional manuals for lighting, drawing, and stock erotica from the 1920s and 1930s, Meszaros uncovers dynamics of power and inequality in the history of image-making. Working with pages ripped from books, Meszaros dismantles, disrupts, and renegotiates original images by remounting, cutting up, painting over, tearing, and sticking them down. Her newly formed archives take inspiration from sources such as Dada photomontage, secret pocket erotica, and 19th-century correspondence practices, activating and alienating the female form to question our visual desire. By complicating the photographs and siphoning back the female erotic experience, Meszaros deconstructs and reconstructs female identities. Her strategies reference feminist performance practices, allowing for radical reorientations and offering a new sense of autonomy and agency to the women depicted.