Objectifying the Abject: Exploitation, Political (In)Correctness and Ethical Dilemmas

Barbara DeGenevieve produced photographs and video documentation of the process of asking male panhandlers, all of whom are homeless, to model for her nude.   Confronting an ethical dilemma that has been part of a cultural debate about the representation and agency of the disenfranchised, this project was intended to engage questions of exploitation, objectification, and the sexualization of the bodies of a segment of the male population who are rarely, if ever, sexualized.   DeGenevieve's own sub rosa presumptions about the men were revealed as she attempted to expose the problematics of the arguments that circumscribe discussions on race, sex, and class.