Katherine Santora

Veil
digital print
11 x 14 in.

The relationship between the bride and the prostitute has been a great focus of work for me over the last couple of years. Generally, these two types of women are similarly identified based on their relationship to a man. Yet society views the prostitute and the bride with such different emotion: for one, disdain, for the other, awe.

Sexual intimacy in contemporary imagery is often implied in relation to clothing, through undressing. Images of unidentifiable women often evoke the idea of scandal and promiscuity. Yet for the bride, the implication of sexual intimacy – the undressing – is not only acceptable, it is expected, essential, applauded. These images are offered as a celebration of the bride and her first meeting with her lover. It is an act without scandal, it is pure and holy: the bond formed a bride and her groom.

© Katherine Santora