Artist Statement

The photographs in the series Candy are taken off a computer's screen showing video streams with male strippers. The video streams are transmitted live, in real time across the internet and are accessible through several websites, without registration, for free. Payment is only necessary for private one-on-one time with a stripper. In addition to the video streams, the websites support mutual text messaging between strippers and viewers. Strippers are advertised as amateurs. However, repeated visits to the websites show the same strippers appearing in different rooms and different strippers appearing in the same rooms. This suggests a degree of organization inconsistent with strippers being amateurs. Judging by the language of text messages, many strippers are located in Latin America or Eastern Europe. Each image is filtered through two digital cameras. A stripper's web cam captures the original, continuous stream of images. It also tends towards coarse pixelation and color shifts. The artist's still camera then recaptures individual frames. It also reproduces the structure of the computer screen that is displaying the video stream. As a result, it underlays each image with a fine grid of light and shadow.