Dans l’univers d’Annique Delphine, artiste photographe américaine, les seins s’envolent comme des ballons, se dégustent sur un cornet de glace, se composent au milieu des fleurs …. et puis y ‘en a qui deviennent des têtes géantes et d’autres moins chanceux qui finissent enfermés en cage ou serrés les uns contre les autres dans un sac plastique…  Annique est une Ancienne mannequin,  installée à Berlin, dégoutée par  l’industrie impitoyable de la Mode elle a préféré avec le temps être plutôt derrière l’objectif .. Un jour, elle tombe devant la vitrine d’une boutique qui présente des boules anti-stress rondes voluptueuses avec un joli téton ! Depuis elle a décidé de célébrer à sa manière quasi obsessionnelle avec fantaisie et poésie le symbole de la féminité, de l’érotisme et aussi de la maternité :  les seins, les boobs, les tétés , les nénés, les lolos, les nichons !!!!!!

Rencontre avec Annique Delphine qui me parle des boobs, des femmes, de nudité, de sex ….

Who is Annique Delphine  ?  

I am a saint, a whore, a mother, a child, a wife, a lover, a hater, a bitch, a best friend, an enemy, a good feminist, a bad feminist, a human rights activist, a hypocrite … I am all of these things.

Why have you choose to work on sexuality, female identity themes ?  

We are at a point where it’s not clear to everyone that some genders are still marginalized in the face of patriarchy. Looking back at when Women weren’t allowed to vote for instance it’s easier to say this wasn’t right and it needed to be changed, but today even a lot of women will tell you we don’t need feminism anymore.   What they fail to understand is that while women in the first world have a lot of freedoms today there are still women in other countries getting mutilated (FGM), there are still places were women aren’t allowed to drive, or travel or even leave the house with a guardian’s approval. There’s young girls being forced into child marriages, and if all that seems too far away for people here to care about than let’s talk about what’s still happening here in our world:   We are also still oppressed by means of objectification which feeds directly into rape culture and gender-based violence. We live in a society that still rewards men for their sexuality while shaming and punishing women for theirs. So as an artist who reflects on their own personal struggles I naturally explore these themes because all my experiences are filtered through my being a woman.

How the idea to focus on Boobs comes from ?  

I guess I have an obsession with them. I am also fascinated by other’s people’s obsession with breasts and how they are simultaneously worshipped and deemed tabu (at least the female nipple is).

What boobs represent for you ?  

I see them as a symbol for womanhood and the limited view in which people perceive women and the role they play in society.   Women are valued through their appearance much more so than men, and breasts are a part of our anatomy that is charged with so many expectations of pleasure, morality, modesty, etc.

What will be your own definition of boobs ?

They’re simply part of my anatomy.  I used them to feed my child after my pregnancy and they are also a big part of my sexuality, but I don’t want anyone to reduce me to a sexual object because of the fact that I have breasts.

Are boobs your favorite part of female’s body ?  

Women’s bodies are so diverse and individual I wouldn’t want to pick one part of them as a favorite. And not all women have breasts so that wouldn’t be fair.

What pink color represents for you ?  

I love the color pink. I use it a lot to symbolize gender roles, expectations and internalized sexism. It’s only been about half a century that we’ve assigned the color pink to women. It used to be regarded a s a masculine color. I think it’s absurd to assign colors to genders. For me it’s just one of countless beautiful colors but it is charged with so many associations so when I use it maybe I’m trying to reclaim or repurpose it.

Who are your big heads boobs ?  

And the first Boobhead I ever made was supposed to reflect how obsessed we as women can get to have a perfectly shaped body as suggested to us by magazines, and advertisement and media. So I made it big and round and an unattainable shape to reflect that. They are all kinds of different people who come to my workshops to make their own Boobhead. Not just women but everyone who is interested in feminist issues.   It’s also a humorous way to play with social media channel’s policies on female nudity.   I try to incorporate humor in my art. So for instance while being objectified and reduced to my aesthetics makes me sad, wearing the Boobhead to point that out is also fun for me and cheers me up.   With the workshops I aim to create a safe space for people to talk about their own personal experiences with sexism.

How do you choose your boob’s installation ?  

The project « Girl Disruptive“ started because I wanted to visualize how femininity could take over a space and how people would be disrupted in their daily life by it. So I started making these installations in random places like in the woods, in a phone booth, in cracks on the side walks. Now it has grown into more of a political statement as I’ve started making them in places that are significant to women’s struggles like at locations where women experiences gender-based violence for instance or in front of Planned Parenthood clinics, or in front of former homes of women I want to honor because they made an impact on our society.

Where would you dream to make a boob’s installations ? 

I would love to make an installation in front of every home of every woman that has ever experienced gender-based violence, sexual assault, cat-calling or anything else that is part of rape culture. and I would love to do it all on the same day. It seems impossible but maybe one day I will find a way to do that.

What you would like to say to all the social medias who make censorship to the boobs ?  

Stop it! It’s absurd.

Are you making a boob’s revolution ?  

That would be nice. I know putting a big Boob on my head to bring awareness to objectification isn’t the most revolutionary thing but it has helped start a dialogue with a lot of people, some of whom came out of it embracing feminism so it’s working.

What the body and sex represent for you ?  

Our bodies are just organic structures. It’s society that has branded them with all kinds of roles, expectations and limitations. Sex is something very pure and natural to all of us but we have bastardized it into a commodity, a weapon, a means of domination and exploitation. I would love for people to just come back to embracing all different shapes and colors and sizes of bodies and to view the naked body as beautiful and natural but to not immediately associate it with sex.

Do you have any new projects ?  

Yes but I am not talking about them yet 😉

pour découvrir toutes ses photo de boobs sur son site : http://anniquedelphine.com

son instagram : https://www.instagram.com/anniquedelphine/