Come on Baby, Light my Fire

Gomma New Flavour / GNF Prize Winner: 'It is with great excitement that we present the Gomma NEW Flavour/GNF Award to Diana Ridaf for her series ‘Come on Baby, Light my Fire’. Ridaf’s color images are bold, self-aware, and deeply critical, offering a playful yet incisive exploration of the ways in which women are sexualized in mass media, particularly through erotic and nude photography that floods social networks. Through her self-portraits and conceptual still lifes, Ridaf not only challenges these familiar and often reductive representations of sexuality but also transforms them into parodies, underscoring the absurdity of these clichés. 

In her work, she skillfully deconstructs the common tropes of erotic photography by infiltrating photo studios with inflatable dolls featuring her own face, creating a striking commentary on objectification. The use of harsh artificial lighting enhances the sense of artifice, further questioning the authenticity of these sexualized images. 

Her approach is a fine balance to maintain — much like surfing, it’s easy for this type of work to slip into an abyss of over-simplification or exploitation. Yet Ridaf cleverly manages to stay on top of the wave, navigating these complex themes with wit and insight, never letting her work lose its critical edge. With a keen sense of irony and an exploration of the boundaries of self-expression, Ridaf critiques the standardization of the female body and the societal expectations surrounding gender and sexuality. 

Ridaf's work is a thought-provoking reflection on identity and the complex narratives surrounding gender and desire. By subverting traditional representations of the female form, she challenges the viewer to reconsider the nature of erotic imagery in the digital age, offering a refreshing, self-reflective voice in contemporary photography. With her unique vision and unwavering commitment to exploring the complexities of gender and sexuality, Diana Ridaf is undeniably a talent to watch in the world of visual arts..' Gomma"

Come on Baby, Light my Fire is a reflection on the sexual objectification of women in mass erotic and nude photography that has become widespread in thematic publics on social networks. I bring the monotony and cliché of poses, images and plots in these photographs to the point of absurdity. I shoot self-portraits in which I create parodies of frequently used plots and locations. I construct still lifes in which I reflect on phrases and words that have an erotic subtext. I capture the interiors of photo studios for nude photo sessions without heroes and heroines, but inflatable dolls with my face penetrate into some of them. In all my work, I use hard artificial light to create an aesthetic that refers to advertising and artificiality. This approach shows that the nature of these images is deceptive.» Diana Ridaf