Camp Girl

The photograph seen here is very controversial, yet there is a lot to be said about whether this is a matter of good taste or bad taste. You see a picture of a white girl in her early 20s wearing a painted dollar bill over her nude body. Starting just above her breast and ending just below her bikini emphasizing the sexual nature of the photograph. Susan Sontag’s article on Camp describes in #25 that “the hallmark of Camp is the spirit of extravagance”. Some might say that this photograph is not extravagant at all being that she is not even wearing clothes how on earth could this be an extravagant picture. One’s interpellation into saying such things about this photograph is the essence of my essay. There are many connotations a person can take from this photograph. Prostitution is a somewhat obvious connotation of a nude woman juxtaposed with money. Although one could also connote high fashion from the fact that she is wearing the money and therefore, is emphasizing that clothes are not cheap. She represents the outlandish profligate of fashion in every sense. The fact that she is nonetheless wearing a finely detailed work of art demonstrates that her apparel is extravagant. The formal definition of extravagant is characterized by excessive or wasteful spending. I’m sure that the painting did not cost nearly as much as a normal outfit would therefore it is extravagant.

According to Sontag, an essential element of pure Camp is seriousness, a seriousness that fails. #23 states that “not all seriousness that fails can be redeemed as Camp, only that which has the proper mixture of the exaggerated, the fantastic, the passionate, and the naïve”. The photograph shows that she is not laughing about the decorum of her body. She is actually somewhat staid in her position in front of the camera nude. The expression on her face and her body are peculiarly oxymoronic. There is a sense of seriousness about her artwork that really is quite extraordinary. The Camp comes from the juxtaposition of a normal innocent looking girl with an offensive piece of “clothing”. You may be asking yourself, “ok I understand this, but why does this matter?” Why does anyone care if this girl is exposing herself in a disgraceful way? Why is it disgraceful and not beautiful?

The importance of this picture is that taste of the audience which is viewing it. Taste is a subject Sontag discusses in depth about in her article. There is nothing more decisive than taste itself. Ineffably, taste has dominion over our ideologies which constitutes our perceptions. That of which this girl is a hot chick who is a gold-digger, or that of which she is a beautiful woman painted with a detailed work of art. Artwork has always had to bear with harsh criticism and disapproval making the girl wearing it subject to irreverence regardless of her intent. There is no clear message the audience member is supposed to take from this picture it is simply a matter of taste. The one thing that is clear is that her outfit although extravagant is not meant to be interpreted as such.

David Sharvit