Monday, January 21, 2008

Air McElroy



Lilly McElroy likes to throw herself around. At men, onto her bed, through the air. A performative photographer and video artist, McElroy seems to have a lot of fun making refreshingly spontaneous pictures. I asked her to explain the procedure behind her photographs and this is what she sent me:

"I started the project by placing an ad on Craig's list looking for men who would meet me at bars blind date style and let me literally throw myself at them. This worked fairly well, but limited the # of photos I could take. Now , I go to bars with a friend/photographer and approach men who are physically larger than I am. I ask them if I can literally throw myself at them. If they say yes, I have myself photographed doing it and buy them a drink afterwards. If it seems like they want to hang out, I'll have a drink as well. Sometimes we talk about the project and sometimes we just chat. I don't have a specific set up for the photos. I just want them to look as much like snap shots or party pics as possible."

Of course there are layers of meaning behind the physical comedy, but McElroy knows how to capture our interest and keep our attention. There are lots of other good series on her website which I'd recommend checking out.





10 comments:

Joanna Goddard said...

hilarious! she is amazing. she would love that site http://www.hotelsbycity.net/blog/bed-jump/

Joanna Goddard said...

oh, crikey, you are james danziger, of danziger projects. i just realized. ok, so of course you have an amazing eye for photography.

Anonymous said...

Socially complex, beautiful and hilarious all at the same time. Amazing!

Anonymous said...

Wow, now I know I'm old! The first thing I thought of was back injuries. How does she know she's not throwing herself at a guy with a pre-existing condition?

The Year in Pictures said...

If you read her quote you'll see she asks them first.
I have to confess, though, (as another codger) my first response was to think I was probably not up to being one of her co-conspirators!

Anonymous said...

i'd step out of the way.

Anonymous said...

step out of the way?! then you, jorge, are no sir.

Anonymous said...

I've had the priviledge of seeing her work in person in Chicago. The prints are exquisite. Surprisingly, I didn't laugh when I encountered the photographs and video. (Yes, there's video, too.) Instead, the images revealed a subtle sober recollection of social interaction.

Anonymous said...

Fantastic! Since she literally throws herself at men, this is a natural for the Literally blog: http://literally.barelyfitz.com/

Anonymous said...

lyrical images with depth in sensibility. So suburban, symultaneously universal. Evel Kineval of photography.