part of a text about the dough portraits written by Barbara Læssøe Stephensen, Master of arts, rhetoric and art history. Head of communications, Gl Strand - Gallery of Modern & Contemporary Art, Copenhagen, Denmark.

 

The dough-portraits are the purest portraits I’ve ever seen: because pretense is almost impossible. In this case it is not just the object of the portrait, who has ceded sovereignty, but also the portraitist who has had to give up controlling power to the lively and uncontrollable dough. And that is when we begin to see. First and foremost, we register how we usually see. And then we realize what science has long claimed, that facial gestures mean more to us than we recognize and that the facial expressions generated by such feelings as fear, anger, disgust, sorrow and joy are amazingly similar all over the globe and the easiest way to communicate. Standing before of the dough portraits bizarre faceless figures we are confronted with the difficulties of lacking the facial gestures when trying to read another person. Immediately we notice ourselves searching for other features that will tell us who we are facing. We look at the clothes. And discovers that it says nearly nothing. Then we turn to the body-language, and find it much more loaded with information. Once our attention is drawn to it, we instinctively know how to read body-language and readily use is to base our judgments on. Does she resemble me? Is she brave or cautious? Is he funny? Is she tidy or more relaxed? Would I go to bed with him? Is she lazy? When mimics are no longer possible the body takes over the posing, and the positions of the body become the important bearers of information: The sit-up- straight back, the open palms of the hand, the easy laid-back attitude, men with their legs wide open and girls with their legs crossed. We can see them, and read them, but are still on insecure grounds - without the faces.