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What Are We Really? (2024-25)

What Are We Really? explores abstraction in the body through lighting, composition, and form, similar to works of Edward Weston and Robert Mapplethorpe. This series has continued to evolve over time, with each iteration pushing new directions, but the core question stays the same: what happens when the human form is depicted in photography? Most recently, I've been interested in stripping away the model’s identities and allowing the work to become one large “bodyscape.”

black and white elbow, thigh, torso
black and white back from the side
black and white upside down knees and thighs
black and white elbow with scarring and breast
black and white leaning torso and chest
hand grabbing at stomach
unrecognizable body parts
hand pulling at thin skin
black and white figure laying on floor on their side
black and white legs with hands cming out betwee thighs
black and white figure sitting on floor grabbing at legs
black and white legs crossed
black and white collarbones and neck
black and white elbow and breast side view
black and white crouched torso
black and white torso, arm, and thigh curled in
chest, arm, shoulder, and leg stacked
unreckognizable body parts, elbow
unrecognizable body curves
black and white figure crouching ald leaning over
black and white figure crouched and turned away
black and white figure sitting on floor curled into themself

© 2026 Ian McMillan

no images may be reproduced without explicit permission from the artist

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