About
Short Bio
Psychoanalyst by day, photographer by the way
Statement
Drive, Desire and the Phallus: I illustrate the dialectic of drive vs desire/power vs force through this medium. Force is fleeting and propulsive, whilst power is constant. Power is akin to drive and force relates more closely to desire. Desire swallows drive, but drive cannot be digested. The phallus is a symbol of power, embodied by a number of surrogates: an erect penis, a finger, a cigar, a tall building, a tree, a ferocious animal, a person of authority or anything that is a stand in for the Other encouraging/curbing/regulating the desire/enjoyment of the other. The Other might be God, the head of state/government, the media, the headmaster/headmistress or the internet, before which/whom the dialectic is played out. The phallus is the signifier of power while a penis is a signifier for the male gender; the former sometimes encapsulates the latter. The phallus is akin to drive while a penis is akin to desire. When they are brought together, the union is sublime, and what results is absolute but finite power and force. When they are separate, it becomes clear that anyone—women in particular—can have the phallus even though we do not have penises, or that a man can have a penis, but no phallus or power. I consistently depict the split between the two; the locus around which the phallus reaches its apogee in orgasm and when it finally looses its power to become (again) a mere object.
Erotic Photography and Portraiture: I endeavour to cast the models I photograph in uncanny Kafka-esque scenes, portraits or tableaux whose surroundings are surreal and morally ambiguous. The models direct their stare into the camera in a performative way, catching the viewer in their gaze and challenging them to keep watching. All photos were posed by professional models 18 years of age or older. Neither said photos nor the words used to describe them are meant to represent the models' actual conduct, statements, identities or personalities. Any similarity between the characters portrayed by the models and actual individuals living or dead is purely coincidental.
Buildings and Landscapes: Alongside portraiture and erotic photography, I have tended to embrace architecture and nature to articulate the subject matter of object relations. I follow my intuition as to how a picture of a place or object will turn out. For a place or thing, it will be a space if I get a sense of welcoming, creativity and change. It will be an edge if I get a sense of restriction, resistance or limitation.
Biography
Nora Geist was born in Udine, Italy and moved to London, England when she was five. She is the youngest child of a British legate who grew used to moving house frequently at an early age. She graduated from the H-Farm International school in Treviso, Italy where she defiantly came out as lesbian at the age of 16. She received her first camera as a gift at the age of 17, and she began taking snapshots of friends and family, who sat for creative portraits and tableaux. After earning her first degree in psychology from the University of Paris 8, Nora enrolled in the Associazione Italiana di Psicoanalisi qualify as a psychoanalyst. She went on to earn a Ph.D. in psychoanalysis from the New School for Social Research in New York City where she subsequently practiced as a psychoanalyst for ten years before returning to Europe. Nora's early compositions explored aspects of identity politics, racial inequality, gender difference and religious dogma from the context of an oppressive and stifling “erotisphere”. She then expanded her interest to include more traditional portraits, landscapes, cityscapes, photographic collages and still lifes. She continues to practice psychoanalysis and is married with two grown children.
Resume / CV
OK Harris Gallery 1997
The Alternative Museum 1999
Exit Art 2001
Piccadilly Gallery 2004
Seattle Erotic Art Show 2010
ARTundressed 2017
Rochester (New York, USA) Erotic Art Festival 2018
Erotic & Bizarre Art Film Festival 2018
Tag! Queer Shorts Festival 2019
The Lift-Off Sessions 2019
BIDEODROMO 2019
Planet 9 Film & Art Festival
Kino London Film Festival 2020
Triple SSS (Sensual, Sexual, Smut Erotic Art Exhibit) 2020
Motion for Pictures 2020
New Dreams International Film Festival 2020
Gorst Underground! 2020
6ix Screams International Film Festival 2020 (Best Experimental)
AltFF Alternative Film Festival 2020
Couch Film Festival 2020
Roxie Roz Burlesque 2021
OGA (S)EXHIBITIONS 2020/2021
New York Nil Gallery 2021
Strandlines LGBTQ+ History Month—February 2021 (www.strandlines.london)
Filmoptico International Art Visual and Film Festival 2021
Gravedigger Dave's Anthology Festival 2021
Caligari. Festival Internacional de Cine de Terror 2021
Horror Lust Film Festival 2021
Hallucinea Film Festival 2021
Guttercast Film Festival 2021
Fear in the Fens Film Festival 2021
Serbest International Film Festival 2021
Indie Movies Spark Film Festival 2021
Pure Magic International Film Festival 2021
Horror Unleashed Film Festival 2021
Bleedingham Horror Film Festival 2021
Bad Film Fest 2021
Horror Unleashed Film Festival 2021
Hyperlink to "The Blessed Sacrilege: White Funeral" (NSFW):
