On November 11, 2016, three days after the man he calls a "monosyllabic cheese puff" was elected President, photographer Geoffrey Ashley got an idea: juxtapose inspirational, history-changing quotes from presidents past alongside the verbal diarrhea our current one has been professing in order to show just how far our country's leadership and reputation has fallen.
"Once the surreal numbness of the election wore off, I was left with the realization this particular, collective nightmare was just beginning," he says. "I wanted to send a message in a time where the social and political discourse of this country is in free-fall, words matter."
Yet, these days, getting people to actually read those words is easier said than done. There's too many of them. They say conflicting things. It's hard to accept the reality they describe.
So, in order to get people to pay attention, Ashley figured he needed to switch up the canvas those words went on. What could possibly command the attention he was looking to generate?
Well, boobs, actually. Naked abdomens. Soft curves. A woman's exposed body, it turns out, is the perfect vehicle grab people's attention like Trump grabs pussy.
"In all my work, nudity is my currency," he explains. "Usually, I use it to cut through to the heart and personality of my subject in a very unique kind of portraiture. In this case, it's an attention grabber to get eyeballs on the real message of the piece: that we have a big, dumb guy as President and that's just not okay. There is also a great deal of power in facing up to a misogynist wearing nothing but his own racist, sexist, narcissistic and utterly-divisive words."
"Also, I just love the idea that a nude woman is the least controversial element of each photograph," he adds. The most, as you can see in his resulting photo series "[Presidential] Words Matter," are the things that have actually crept their way out of Trump's airways, a not-so-subtle reminder that where we are isn't quite as pretty as where we've been.
Check it out below:
All photos courtesy of Geoffrey Ashley of Unsinn Photography.
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