Bill Henson’s Untitled (2001/02), as part of a series of works also left nameless, is adolescence on the cusp of adulthood, on the threshold between childhood and blooming teenage sexuality, and the isolation that encompasses it; a controversial choice of both subjects, and subject matter.
Untitled is a photograph of two figures, a young boy and girl, on the fringe of a kiss, embracing amongst almost velvety darkness. They are central to the piece; the instant point of focus for the viewer.
Light is used sparingly, amongst dominant shadows that engulf his subjects, multiple points of light as gentle spotlights on his figures. Henson uses chiaroscuro through photographic underexposure in the piece, wherein his subjects fade into the surrounding darkness, yet act as the point of focus in the piece, illuminated by dull streetlights.
Colour is controlled, and delicate. Hints of rosy cheeks and lips tease the viewer. Crimson red hues infuse themselves into earlobes. Dark brunette hair is illuminated by the streetlights; the models as pale as snow, yet so underexposed that they fade into darkness.
Movement in the work is paused, as an almost standstill of time, a fleeting moment between his forlorn lovers. Henson implies a possible sensuality in his figures, though, in their stilted movement, it becomes clear that their embrace is born out of isolation and loneliness, a tender reminder that adolescence, for Henson’s subjects, is so often solitary.
There is a vast sense of space that entices the viewer to look beyond Henson’s young figures and into the darkness surrounding, in the suggestion of a wide, open space.
Untitled explores an open-ended narrative of adolescent torment. Henson creates a twilight zone; a transition between day and night, light and dark. His twilight zones run a parallel to his figures-in their transition between childhood and adolescence, and the bridging period between adolescence and adulthood, they struggle to cope under the weight of loneliness and creating identity.
Henson creates togetherness amongst loneliness. He ties together key themes of angst with the notion of innocence as an exploration into love and companionship, reinforcing a sense of forlorn neediness through his desolate urban environments and using darkness to reflect the inner turmoil of his subjects.
Henson creates both sensuality and purity in the work through his subjects. There is a youthful sexiness to the work, though the artist strips it of any vulgarity, instead highlighting his subjects as lonely companions in darkness.
In Bill Henson’s works, the viewer becomes the subject. Henson is able to create an experience wherein the viewer can see themselves in the faces of his subjects, eliciting an empathetic response that overrides the controversial.
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