Suzy Bell
An advert running in the local Durban newspapers has caused quite a stir among some verkrampte readers, who have deemed it perverted and pornographic. It may be vaguely shocking or clichd titillation, but it’s also an artistic image.
Two of the Fantastic Flying Fish dancers are surrounded by a soft pink glow, created by a technique called ring-flash photography. They are nude, not naked; sexy, but seemingly sexless. One of the adverts is sub-titled: “We’ll give you something to stare at”, and it certainly has caught the attention of its intended audience – those fashionable young things who flock to the flashy fashion show, the Durban Designer Collection. The design is cheeky and courageous. It’s a Big Banana design by International Concept Organisation (ICO).
Mark Lanning, who took the photograph, and designer Neil Roake of ICO, are the brains behind the concept. “We are just playing on the fact that sex is fun and most people seemed to have missed that. We are also reflecting pop culture trends of displaying humans as sci-fi creatures, making them look androgynous by taking out the genitalia. It has caused such a reaction from the public so it is advertising in its purest sense. But obviously I wouldn’t do the same for a campaign for a can of beans,” says Roake.
Visual artist, photographer and designer Barry Downard was quite surprised to get a credit for retouching. “I just had to take out the wobbly bits,” he says. “Certainly not any extra flesh on the dancers’ fat-free bodies. And I did the wires holding the wings.”
Retouching takes a fair degree of precision and subtlety,” says Downard, who has a fine photographic eye for tonal values. As for the self-righteous letters of indignation in the press that singled out Downard as being responsible for retouching: “I have to laugh for those sad, unimaginative people. They say I took away the beauty of God’s creation. But what about the manufacturers of Barbie dolls? It’s just that some people are totally witless, totally humourless.”
Debbie Reynolds, Lifestyle editor of the Independent on Saturday and producer of the annual Durban Designer Collection, approved the ad for the local newspapers and cannot see what all the fuss is about. “The ad is great because it is different and is getting people’s attention. It is saying `come along and see people with their clothes on’. I think the concept of leaving out the naughty bits is clever and I can’t see this as porn. The advert reflects a fashion event that will be very different. For the first time ever we’re using a circus stage with two ramps. It will be like a fashion circus with performance art, lumo-juggling, fire-breathers, a kwaito group and the Fantastic Flying Fish dancers – with their clothes on.”