malerie marder   Malerie Marder's photographs are erotic, tense, sensual, and free of sex. Photographing herself, family and friends in ambiguously staged situations, Marder evokes feelings of awkward tension and alienation in her work. All of her subjects are nude, baring not only their bodies but their desires, emotions and psyches. They stand or lie in seedy hotel rooms or strange houses, usually juxtaposed with another person. Even with descriptive titles the viewer is uncertain of their relationship. We know who they are, just not how they are, or what they may be to one another emotionally or sexually. Her photographs are composed as if the viewer has stumbled onto this emotionally and sexually charged scene, but the feeling goes beyond passive observer or voyeur into participant. The work is purposely mysterious because it is about fantasy. Of her work Marder says, "(it) fictionalizes my desires with family and friends; I’m not interested in our everyday lives. I’m interested in the part that isn’t lived, that is fantasized about." These raw undercurrents are what make Marder’s work both compelling and awkward. We want to know the story, to understand the relationships, but we also understand that the information we gather may not be as innocent as we would hope.

In The Marder Sisters, two women (the artist and her sister) stand in a doorway, nude, calmly holding hands. They are seemingly unaware (or at least uncaring) that they are so fully exposed. The doorway is made of glass and leads out to an open yard. Neither woman acknowledges the camera. The woman on the right stares off into space with a detached, emotionless expression while the woman on the left glances intently at her sister, almost willing an acknowledgement, a reaction. Coming upon this scene, we wonder what is happening. Is the woman on the left trying to engage the woman on the right? Or is she lending support to an emotionally traumatized sister? Perhaps the woman on the right is trying to convince the other to see what she sees, but is met with skepticism. The possibilities are endless and potentially disturbing. Those possibilities make the photograph work. The psychosexual tension has dramatic effects that we are curious to figure out but know are better left alone.

--Larissa Raddell, MFA, Studio Art, George Washington University