The Italian Vogue issue which had a section entitled “water and oil” photographed by Steven Meisel caused controversy because it portrays a human as an animal being exposed to human carelessness. It is specifically a woman who is shown to be dying due to oil spills near the ocean, much like the penguins and other wild life which are killed each year. These photographs which were in the Italian Vogue are provocative because they draw our attention to the devastation of our actions in a more personal way by using a human instead of an animal.
It is also very provocative because it deals with a very sensitive and serious subject in an almost artistic way which makes people see it differently. The fact that these images were chosen to be in a fashion magazine is also controversial. Fashion magazines and the fashion industry have in the past been known to use fur and leather and other fashion items which are against animal rights. Now Vogue magazine has used these images which are on one hand showing the destruction of human actions (oil spills) but are on the other hand showing destructive human actions in an artistic way in an artistic magazine which is hard to take seriously. One does question whether the photographer took these photographs to create a statement or to simply add a new look to the ever changing fashion image.
It would have been less controversial if the photographer used an average looking human and plain text to send this serious message across, instead of a high end model with a couture looking outfit and artistic text. These factors make the main issue (pollution/destruction) seem less important and seem to place more importance on the imagery and the fashion/art aspect of the photographs.
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