The nude female body assumes an otherworldly sensuality in new photo book

The nude female body is rethought through the lens of artists Honey Long and Prue Stent, who explore sensual forms in a new photo book. The duo, who have worked together for the past ten years, have developed a practice that traverses photography, moving image, performance, installation and sculpture. Based in Melbourne, their art is grounded in experimentation between bodies, materials and environments, and creates a space for the animate versus inanimate – the human and other – to interweave.

‘We see the body as a microcosm and are constantly exploring environments to find moments, processes or formations that reflect a feeling or speak to the body in some way,’ the duo say. ‘We try to find points of connection where the outside world and our inner worlds overlap.’

Now, Long and Stent are encompassing these themes in their first photo book, Drinking From The Eye, co-published by Photo Australia and Perimeter Editions, and a limited-edition print.

Drinking From The Eye, by Honey Long and Prue Stent

Designed by Žiga Testen, Drinking From The Eye takes the form of an abstract visual diary. The body is ever-present throughout, whether literally through a performative interaction, or appearing figuratively in the leaking eye of a rock pool, the plush lips of a sea creature or the tingling tentacles of a sea anemone. ‘From the micro worlds we explore – gardens, rock pools, ponds – hybrid creatures and uncanny moments emerge which speak to desire, fantasy and the urge to see ourselves reflected in the natural world,’ add Long and Stent.

Often referencing historical representations of the female subject, Long and Stent distort and fragment bodies, creating other-worldly beings in a constant state of becoming and flux. Dreamlike, fluid, saccharine, gritty and fleshy, their imagery is both subversive and surreal. 

To accompany the book, Long and Stent have also released a limited-edition print, Wax Diptych (pictured top of this article), to support future artist commissions by Photo Australia for Melbourne’s Photo 2024 International Festival of Photography. 

The print is a sensory dual image work taken from Drinking From The Eye and made available for a short period in an edition of 150. ‘Both of these photos were taken in very different environments, which is partly why I think the pairing is so satisfying. Both capture a feeling of merging and of two bodies meeting each other – one being a friend’s body and the ocean, and the other being rain and hot earth,’ says Long. 

Each print is hand-signed and is only available until 21 July 2023, or until it sells out.

Available to buy at photoaustralia.myshopify.com

Drinking From The Eye can also be ordered at foyles.co.uk