The first book by mixed media artist Shae Detar, being released by Skeleton Key Press on March 21, is a collection of hand-painted photographs where the feminine takes the center stage and transports the viewers into a utopian dimension. Here, Mother Earth merges with the female body and, as suggested by the emblematic title, Another World, it takes the shape of an alternate reality, in which the innate beauty of the naked body is celebrated in its diversity.
The women portrayed by Detar, a former model who converted to art as a self-taught artist, are confident figures at ease with their own frailties, escaping material reassurances to let themselves loose in wild landscapes, as in a kind of ascetic and aesthetic union with the environment.
Detar’s escapist approach results in a dreamlike vision that has a concrete and far from hedonistic counterpart. In fact, the series of photographs convey the energy and strong vibes that are propagated by those women who, in their daily lives, believe in the ideal of diverse beauty that distinguishes humankind, which is increasingly accepted and recognized. Thanks to Detar’s magic touch, her creative taste, and the attention she pays to the arrangement of colors on the prints, the struggle for acceptance of body diversity takes on evocative and fascinating, yet no less real, hues.
We talked with the artist to learn more about her work.
How did you get into photography and the technique of hand painting?
I used to cut up fashion magazines, make hand-painted collages out of them, and turn them into my creative diaries. I never thought of it as art… It was just a playful hobby. Then when I was living in Milan at nineteen years old as a fashion model, my roommates saw me making these collaged diary entries and suggested that I go to art school for graphic design. I ended up quitting modeling two months later and applied for art school. Once in art school, I didn’t like having to use the computer to make my work, and I always tried to get away with doing assignments by hand. But at some point I realized I wasn’t interested in graphic design, so I dropped out and went back to modeling. Fast forward many years and my husband suggested I try photography… I didn’t know anything about the medium of photography, so I started playing. I taught myself how to shoot analog, develop prints in the darkroom, and work with alternative processes. From the very beginning, I was printing out my work and painting on the photos as I had done as a kid; it was probably just an instinct. I really didn’t want my painted pieces to be similar to historical techniques, and I didn’t want them to feel vintage, so I started experimenting with different papers and paints, and it took several years of experimenting before I found what worked best for me. I now use watercolor paper and watercolor paints, acrylics, and charcoal. It’s been a journey of experimenting and learning what works for me and what doesn’t. Trial and error and play are really the university that I went to on my own.
What is your creative process like? How do you create an image?
It’s really important for me to be completely open and experimental and to remain in a state of play when I am creating. There are different phases of my art life: one phase is the actual creation phase, another phase is where I plan and research locations, find my volunteer models and organize the details that lead up to the shoot day. Then there is the actual shoot day that is so much more about the environment I am in, the person I am taking photos of, and the communication and interaction between me and my model. Afterwards is the creation time which occurs in my studio; this is where I take the images I photographed, print them out, not having any expectations at all, and make them into something else entirely. This phase is when it is important for me to stay open, play, and experiment. The first time I paint the pieces, I make them small so I don’t get anxious about wasting paper, and I can free myself to make anything I want, which allows me to stay open to the unknown. Children don’t overthink creation, they don’t judge themselves, and they don’t sit there and act critical or obsess over what they are making, they are really present, enjoying the moments of actually creating and expressing themselves. This is what I aim for in that phase of my work… If I feel myself overthinking, I go and take a walk to step away from the work. The next phase is when I decide that the small something I have made is cool and that I want it to be bigger. This is when I reprint it at a much larger scale. I have to really focus and lean on my many years of learning my craft, because I am trying to make the larger scale version the same as the small print and if I mess up, it’s expensive because those large prints are pricey. This part of my job requires full concentration, and I have to be really careful. Then I build wooden panels that I mount my prints to, and lately I ve been adding layers of epoxy resin on top, which I love. So, it’s a lot of work. These pieces take a lot of time, passion, and focus, but I love it.
Do you deliberately take photographs of female models only? Why?
I have only really photographed women, at least for this book. I love photographing women so much, and it’s been a huge part of healing for me because I was exposed to the purity movement as a young teenager in the evangelical church and I have had to work through the effects of that as an adult over many years. In many ways, those experiences have been a form of trauma and have affected me and so many women who were raised in this purity movement. My parents had never talked to me about sex or sexuality; they are amazing, and I am so close with them so I don’t blame them at all, but they had no idea what the church was teaching us in these youth group settings. We were taught that we should be ashamed of our nude forms, that it was our responsibility not to make men lust and if they did it was somehow our fault, and that sex and anything revolving around sex, masturbation, and oral sex was sinful except within the confines of marriage. I remember being fourteen years old and a man got up one day at church on Sunday and told the teenage girls that we couldn’t wear shorts or short skirts anymore because we were causing the boys and men to lust. We were all so shocked, and we spoke about it amongst ourselves, curious as to why it was our responsibility to cover up and why these old men were even looking at us in this way to begin with. It felt creepy.
After you get married, the leaders of the church literally teach you that you are now supposed to be this sexual being for your husband and that you are required to turn on that same sexuality that you were taught to fear and be ashamed of and not have, whenever your husband wanted it.
The other thing that affected my relationship with my body and sexuality was the rape of a family member; I was also raised with this deep fear which has always been in the back of my mind.
It took me years and years to work through all of that, and if I am being honest, I still have to work through some of it even now. So, when I first decided to shoot nudes, I was thirty-three years old, and I was both excited and scared at the same time. I was no longer in the church, but the damage had already been done, so to speak. I think that my journey in photographing women nude has been a huge source of healing even without me fully being aware of it at times. It’s been this beautiful way of finding freedom as a woman and with women in expressing whatever is inside of me and whatever I am working through. It’s this combination of my love of nature, the awesomeness of the earth, and women feeling empowered, safe, and strong to be in these environments. Women often tell me how incredible it feels to be nude taking photos in these spaces; they feel like goddesses, and I love that. It makes me so happy to hear that. I love that whoever wants to volunteer to shoot with me, can! I don’t choose women based on a beauty standard, and I never have. It’s been a really beautiful journey getting to meet so many women and hearing their stories along the way.
How important is the physical touch of an image to you?
I love handmade things, and I guess I am really old school in that way. I don’t mind the digital world we live in, there are many great things that have come from the computer and technology as a whole, but I prefer the tangible, physical pieces I make so people can walk up to and see little textures, imperfections, or brush strokes… it’s so human. I love that every piece I make is different in some small way than the last piece I made.
The only downside to the physical aspect is that it costs more to create the pieces to ship to shows, so I never fully fit into the photography world because I am a photographer, but I am also a painter. I am somewhere in-between the two mediums because most photographers can just get an image printed in any city and send it to the gallery to frame, but mine are physical pieces that have to be shipped, like a painter or a sculptor has to do, but I think that makes them different and special too.
I’ve always loved Peter Beard
s work, and I imagine he had to deal with the same thing. I actually met him twice when I was in my twenties, and those are very memorable moments. In fact once I got to go into his studio and see this secret section that he couldn’t show the public, and that was really amazing. He was a legend, and anytime I get bummed that I don’t fit into a category in the photography world, I remind myself that he existed and his work was incredible. I do notice though, in the last few years that there are more and more young mixed media artists popping up, and that’s exciting. Maybe this will open doors to people being more open to photography that isn’t just an image printed on archival museum quality paper in a gallery. Even the old-school way of developing images in the darkroom was more involved. I tend to be more attracted to oil paintings because I prefer handmade pieces and with photography I am more attracted to darkroom prints and alternative processes or mixed media.
Let’s talk about Another World. How did you work on it? How long did it take to develop it?
I was approached by my publisher, Skeleton Key Press in Oslo, before the pandemic, and they wanted to make a book with me. I knew I wanted to edit and sequence it myself, so after we agreed on that, I began going through the archive of over twelve plus years of work. I really enjoyed the process and lessons of making this book, and I will absolutely make books for the rest of my life. I also learned so much about my own work through the act of editing and sequencing, because I started to see areas in my medium that I can make better or work on. It took around two years for this book to be completed, and I’m so thrilled that it is coming out March 21st, which is my birthday.
Where does the title of the book come from?
The cover and the title are sort of linked to one another. My niece is half Japanese and when she was around eight yrs old some kids at school had made fun of the shape of her eyes, and I just remember trying to build her up and letting her know how incredible it is that each person is unique and different and that our differences are beautiful. She’s sixteen now, and I’m sure she doesn’t remember that moment, but it has stuck with me ever since. So, when it came time to think of a cover and a title, I knew I wanted her eye on the cover. I wanted women to feel proud of who we are and acknowledge the differences we all have are embraced, and the different body types, backgrounds, and ethnicities; all of it is beautiful and cherished in my book. It’s the reason I’ve always done open-volunteer casting, and why I don’t work with agencies unless I am shooting for a fashion magazine. I want anyone who feels compelled to be in a work by me to come on an art adventure with me, no matter what they look like or where they come from. The best compliment I ever get is from women saying they feel seen in my work. So, this book is a world where our bodies are not sexualized, simply because we are naked, and one in which we are free to be ourselves and where we aren’t judged. It truly is another world, and I hope my book portrays it in some artistic way that we are each unique, special, and beautiful.
What do you want to express and accomplish through your photography?
I think the answer to that will change depending on when you might speak to me. If you had asked me five years ago the answer would have been different than it would be a year, two years or ten years from now. Nothing stays the same, and we are always evolving. I do believe that artists don’t always understand the work they make immediately. Some artists do have an exact mission or something they aim to speak to, but a lot of us are just staying present and open to creativity. We create, and sometimes we begin to understand what we made years later. Rick Rubin once said “The act of creation is an attempt to enter a mysterious realm. A longing to transcend. What we create allows us to share glimpses of an inner landscape, one that is beyond our understanding. Art is our portal to the unseen world.”
I really believe that, and I try to stay incredibly open and mindful of the mysterious realm, and I really believe that that moment of creation is a form of magic.
How will your practice develop in the future? What are your next projects and goals?
I am so excited for my next few shoots. I am going to Iceland, Scotland and parts of England to shoot my next series. I’m also really interested in shooting women in clothing, if I can find the right clothes and costumes. I want to shoot more close ups, and I’ll just keep playing and experimenting. I’m working on a piece right now that is extremely large… I’m trying to draw out the building aspects of it, as I am the one who builds the wooden frame panels for the pieces. I might add more texturing to the next series too… so we will see how that develops. I love evolving and growing, and I will never ever lose my sense of play because I cherish that above all things. My husband, who is a film composer and songwriter, and I have a rule in our home and that is that no matter what, we remind each other to always “trust your gut.”
