American Graffiti

The modeling shoot: American Graffiti

American Graffiti gathers five images set in a venue furnished in fifties style, with Mrs Exploder as the only human presence in a space that seems suspended outside opening hours.

The first photograph shows the interior in full: white and red booths, tables with metal edging, a wall covered in postcards and small posters, an oval window opening onto another room, and bell-shaped lamps hanging from the ceiling. The light is soft and diffused, with a cool cast that chills the whites and pulls the reds towards pink. At the centre of the scene the model sits at a table, her body drawn in, her gaze turned to a point outside the frame; the distance from the camera leaves her immersed in the room rather than separated from it.

The following images move closer. In one she holds an open colour flyer, leaning on the table, her profile defined by the light coming from the windows behind her. In another she stands beside a blue panel with large arrows and a lit-up machine, beneath a row of bulbs and a line of red neon: here she looks straight into the lens, arms raised to frame her face, her body resting against the panel. The last two return to an intimate register: a tall milkshake glass between her hands, head lowered, eyes closed; then the polished counter of a bar, a glass of dark soda with a straw, a pink neon out of focus in the background and a held sideways glance.

Recurring elements are the blonde hair tied up with a bandana, the checked shirt and the polka-dot dress, the tattoos covering her arms. The palette stays constant: cream white, dusty blue, muted red, with the neon signs as the only warm accents. The atmosphere is that of an empty, quiet afternoon, with no other customers.