Have you ever looked at the breakfast spread before you and had the strange sensation you were looking at spread legs instead?
Photographer Peter Kaaden feels your pain. The German artist's recent series for VICE's 2014 Photo Issue, entitled "Zu Nah," features everyday objects from melons to turkey sandwiches to clams that bear a striking yonic resemblance.
Taking a cue from Nobuyoshi Araki, Kaaden finds the vulva hiding in the seemingly banal stuff of daily life. Close-up shots are at once banal and taboo, forcing viewers into the bizarre condition of becoming aroused or repulsed by a humble zipper. Who says your USB port can't get your mind wandering to naughtier territories?
In an email to the Huffington Post, Kaaden explained his photographic endeavor concisely. "I think its hard to find the right statement. I think they speak for themselves." Agreed.
We recently featured an equally clever attempt by Kaaden to show nudity without actually showing it, in a series of nude Louvre statues he censored for Facebook. It seems the artist is devoted to scrambling up our assumptions regarding which images are and are not NSFW. Suddenly nudes are in the clear, while a clam can seem downright pornographic. Aside from looking strangely enchanting, the photographs illuminate the arbitrary nature of what we deem appropriate or illicit.
Get your head into the gutter with Kaaden's playful series below.
