Restraint and Desire from Ken Graves and Eva Lipmann
Becca Rothfeld, a journalist writing for The New Yorker stated: “‘Restraint and Desire’ is a study of intimacy and its impediments: the tender images it contains portray longing (desire) when it is regulated by ritual (restraint). The [work] depicts perfectly ordinary exchanges in familiar, formalized settings. . . Yet each [space] is both an obstacle to and a condition of love’s consummation.”
All of the different human behaviors photographed by Graves and Lipman are often revealing of a certain sexual tension present among the subjects. Lipman and Graves explained that not only is this tension present in the world around them but that it also was a reflection upon their own relationship. As Lipman puts it, “our work reflected back to us, like a mirror, the intensities and power dynamics of our shared life together.”
Their pictures, expressing an immense visual sensitivity, are a collection of body language expressions that reveals the immense interior complexity of the human mind. Most of the emotions are conveyed through the hands of the characters. They touch, they grab, they feel, the longer you look at them, the more complicated it becomes to really get a grasp of the emotions being conveyed by the subjects. The journalist Tim Adams writing for The Guardian describes it as “the language of the hands” but also as the “lexicon of the touch”. It shows us the way palms and fingers are among the prominent features to describe the emotions expressed inside a relationship.
The complexity of human relationship explored by Ken Graves and Eva Lipmann
The complex aspect of human relation is particularly visible on this picture. We see a couple either dancing or embracing each other when they are suddenly surprised by the hands of two other characters. But is it really the case? Are they being pushed together or are they being separated from one another? Is this the picture of an intimate scene between two lovers or is it just an awkward grip? Does the woman with her back to us feel congratulated, comforted or threatened at the touch of those hands? Are the others here to say hello or are those goodbyes? All of those different interpretation of the same picture is rendered possible thanks to the lack of description but also because we can’t see her facial expression, thus making us harder to interpret her expression. This forces us to project our own stories into the life of these individuals, something perhaps that we already do unconsciously on a daily bases when we crossed the path of a stranger while walking in our streets.

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Author
Pierre Etieve, born on january 22nd 2001 in Orléans
Bachelor Europäische Wirtschaftskommunikation
Internship 2022 at studio Thomas Kellner