Photographer, model share vision of vulnerability in ‘nude-art’ exhibit

By Maureen McEwan

For Ottawa artists Katia Pershin and Nakisa Fouladi, their nude-art photography and painting is more than an exhibit: it’s a movement.

405:33, its truest form shows for one night only on Sunday, Nov. 26 at the General Assembly Gallery in Hintonburg. It’s expected to have a longer run elsewhere in the city next year.

Fouladi and Pershin are in the final, frantic days before the opening of the exhibit. Both manage hectic schedules – Pershin runs a photography studio while Fouladi works as a model and as a manager at a Lansdowne restaurant – but they are busily arranging for a U-Haul van and a cash bar, prepping the Fairmont Avenue gallery space and taking care of other administrative details.

Fouladi reveals paint marks on her forearms — some of the artworks are just freshly completed — prompting the two to laugh.

Pershin and Fouladi met four years ago on a photo shoot and have worked on several magazine projects. They’ve grown from colleagues to good friends.

“Katia was my photographer that I became very quickly obsessed with because her pictures were the best in Ottawa,” Fouladi said.

“And I equally got obsessed with her,” said Pershin, “because…well, look at her!”

Planning for the exhibit began more than a year ago. Surprisingly, it was Pershin’s fiancé, Bruce Spurr, who came up with the idea.

“It was so flawlessly, instantly, ‘Yes.’” Pershin said, with Fouladi nodding.

Twelve months later — or “three months of wishing, dreaming and nine months of sweat” as Pershin puts it – 405:33, its truest form has come together.

(The meaning of the title, by the way, remains a mystery for now. But Pershin and Fouladi hint they may reveal the secret at Sunday’s show.)

The three-step artistic process they describe is extensive – photography, image layering, painting. It begins with photo shoots and black-and-white prints. The two were quick to praise Digital Art and Restoration on Bank Street, the Centretown print shop that “put up with all of our stuff, our shenanigans, our complaining,” Fouladi said.

From there, the artists said they employed a process called “mod-podging,” which layers the image onto canvas with glue. Pershin and Fouladi used large canvases and high-resolution prints so they “reverse mod-podged,” they said, agreeing that this middle step was the most laborious.

“You have tears on the canvases,” said Pershin. “There’s literally blood, sweat, and tears on there, and it’s beautiful,” added Fouladi.

Painting and cutting is also involved, making for a lengthy and “intense” artistic process, said Pershin. The pair used 19 X-Acto knives for 19 canvases because the work needed to prepare each image wore the blades down. The show will include 19-21 canvas pieces, including a few acrylics (sans photos) by Fouladi.

“We tortured ourselves for this show,” joked Fouladi. “I hope everyone in the universe knows that.”

But the exhibit’s true labour might be emotional. Pershin and Fouladi admit they had to be self-reflective and vulnerable to produce what they did.

In their second shoot, Pershin described placing the camera on the tripod and sitting down with Fouladi to delve into a deeper artistic and emotional place. Previously, Pershin was a mental health counsellor at the University of Ottawa and holds an MA in the field.

“I know my way around emotions,” Pershin said. “And then trying to evoke them and get people to be vulnerable and feel vulnerable — and to release.”

During that shoot, Pershin said Fouladi opened up and “broke down” ultimately.

“It’s sounds a little sadistic, but to me that’s a beautiful win because you get to the truth of someone’s soul,” Pershin said. “And not just, you know, pretty model who comes in for a photo shoots and pops back home to her own feelings. It was really honest. And very raw.”

Pershin said that from her photos to Fouladi’s own brushstrokes, they’re examining the emotional layers as well.

“We’re turning her (Fouladi) inside out basically.”

For Fouladi, it was a more dynamic experience as a model and even a “contradiction” in her career to date. Fouladi describes herself as a “model-turned-artist” because of her role in the production – the mod-podging and painting of images of herself.

They describe their work as “fine nude-art” but the show is not about the nudity. In the shoots, Fouladi didn’t have make-up or styling done. One time, her feet were painted two different colours. Fouladi said it wasn’t about being “provocative, intentionally” or about “taking her shirt off” — it was about the emotional vulnerability.

“It is a lot of sadness,” Fouladi added. “I mean, not one of those pictures is made from me being happy. But that’s the point of this show – is me getting out those feelings that I have, suppressed or hidden inside me.”

Both artists said their intention is for others to explore their own vulnerability.

Pershin said she is asked frequently about nude-art and whether it is empowering or exploitative. As a boudoir and nude photographer, it is something she often considers – especially in a culture of body shaming and mixed messages. But Pershin said that her shoots are focused on how her clients see themselves – not just the “perfect, curated, or social media self” but the whole self.

“It’s the whole gestalt. It’s the whole me — that is truly me and what makes me perfect. So that’s what the show means to me,” she added.

When asked about the exhibit’s name, they said they were surprised how many people have asked about “405:33.” Pershin said that the numbers represent “philosophically” how the two got into the project. They hold deep individual and shared significance — the numbers appeared in both their lives in a way they have so far decided not to disclose.

They might share the meaning; it could be a last-minute decision Sunday morning before the show, they hinted.

In the exhibit, they are incorporating work from two other artists: Pakistani poet Noor Unnahar and Canadian poet Atticus. Persian and Fouladi said the creative figure they relate to most is Nobuyoshi Araki, as the Japanese artist shares a similar style.

They said their art is about empowerment and equality; it is evocative, and about embracing who you are. They said they want to start a movement in the art world, the modelling world, and beyond.

“It’s a beautiful movement that should be happening. And if it has to start in Ottawa, let’s go!” Fouladi said.

405:33, its truest form exhibits from 6:30-10:30 p.m. on Nov. 26 and is open to the public. After Sunday’s vernissage, the exhibit will re-open at a new location at later date.

This story was produced in collaboration with Artsfile.ca