Elke Desutter lives and works in Bruges, Belgium.

‘To Titillate’ trtrlert/ arouse (someone) to interest or mild excitement

'The body embodies many aspects in my work. It is used as a model, an object and medium. '

The disconnection from ‘the body’ as we know it fascinates, attracts and invites you to look closer at my work.

Using video, photocollage and installation, I explore the body in all its forms. The body is literally objectified but NOT as a lust-object.

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Reinventing the way we look at the body and how it takes shape, I play with the spectator through recognition and abstraction. Using skintones and imperfections of the body as a foundation, the body is then pulled apart from its known form and an image of the body is recreated. Imperfections of the body and the skin are investigated, magnified and combined into a new Body of Bodies.

The body parts I use in my work are collected through anonymous photosessions where the model chooses which part they would like photographed and donated to my archive. This part is very important to me to see how people look at their body and what they want to 'donate'. People tend to 'mentally' give away parts they are ashamed of or proudly donate their most loved part to my archive.

The body respresents EVERYBODY and becomes ONE through my work. Gender, ethnicity and age are put in one bundle of bodies. Which parts of the body we see are not always clear. The parts get reinvented. As a spectator you try and figure out which parts you are seeing. We see the body in its purest form. Nude and with all its imperfections. Shown as it is but out of its context. Through this the phenomenon of pareidolia can take place, looking beside the obvious and seeing something that is not there. Our brain is used to recognise things quickly, a basic reflex which protects us from danger and helps us read people’s expressions.