Anna Maltz

“Maggie, Daniell, Finley & Kaizen, San Francisco”, 2003, c-print, 13.5”x20”, ed. of 5.

“Terry, London”,
2001, c-print, 20” x 13.5”, ed. of 5

“Shane, London”,
2001, c-print, 9 3/8” x 14”, ed. of 5

“Natasha, Peter, Zack and Imogen pose against a garden trellis, bathed in the soft light of a spring afternoon. Man and wife, with one boy and one girl, they are the very embodiment of the wholesome nuclear family…except that they’re all naked. Sort of.

In fact, they’re clad head to toe in hand-knitted mohair bodysuits, from which sprout gender-appropriate appendages and thick strands of body hair. Naked suits, if you will. Mom stares blankly ahead, her pillowy pink breasts askew, as her little girl reaches over to poke at dad’s fuzzy knitted member. Father and brother look on, grinning. Somehow, perhaps because the suits are so goofy and the subjects so clearly delighted, this scenario manages not to be creepy.

In Anna Maltz’s new series One Size Fits All, families of various configurations don the same suits and pose for conventional portraits, to riotous effect. Julia, Sandra, Katie & Jazz, San Francisco make the case for the two-mommy family (though one gamely dons the daddy suit). Sarah, Peter, Ariel, Calypso, Lola & Arthur, London, are a glowing clan straight out of Rubens – or perhaps Darger, given that the little girls sport tiny penises. Maltz has also created a superman outfit and a mermaid suit, worn to great effect by her bemused subjects.

Whether Maltz is challenging traditional definitions of family and gender, exploring societal taboos or simply having a ball dressing up her friends, these images aptly convey both the tension and liberation of slipping into a costume to become someone new.”

LINKS:

• Elizabeth Olivera Galler