Claire

After Tanyth Berkeley approaches strangers on the subway to make an appointment for a photograph, the resulting portraits are striking evidence of the artist’s newfound friendships with compelling young women. Berkeley’s series of female portraits, Orchidace, refer to the rare species of orchids coveted for their unusual flowers. Focused attentively on the variety of natural representations of female beauty, Berkeley has considered many art historical and cinematic female subjects—from Bresson’s adolescent Mouchet and Bergman’s Monika, to Manet’s urban portrait “The Street Singer” and Rossetti’s “Ophelia.” Berkeley entertains a strong identification with her subjects, and perhaps a shared sentiment about mainstream standards of beauty.




The plain portraits occur in parks, where women subjects focus away from the camera with steadfast strength and dignity. Berkeley describes one woman she meets on the train as, “a cross between Marilyn Monroe and the moon.” Complementing these probing portraits are Berkeley’s videos of anonymous male singers, who croon love serenades to strangers on subway platforms. Berkeley translates her subjects’ secret feelings into her own, using photography and video to illuminate how desire manifests on the body and in one’s private, wandering thoughts.