This article originally appeared on VICE Germany. WARNING: NSFW photos follow.
The internet age has presented humanity an unfathomable number of questions. One of the most pressing: why do so many men send women unsolicited pictures of their dick and balls?
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Elisabeth Ubbe doesn’t have an answer to that question, but has grappled with the dick pic phenomenon in a different way, through her photography work. Upon realising that, if men really wanted photos of their dicks out in public view, she could make that happen, the Swedish photographer came up with “Still Dick” – a series of photographic recreations of still-life paintings by some of her favourite artists, with some dicks sprinkled here and there.
Having delved into women’s issues such as female genital mutilation and breastfeeding in public in her previous work, for “Still Dick” Ubbe faithfully reconstructed the still-life images in her studio and had male models pose in the scenes with their pants off. She told VICE that the men in the photos saw their participation as a “work of resistance”.
In the photos, the penises always look out of place, and in some places fairly sad. Ubbe wanted to recreate the sense of crudeness and shock that an unsolicited dick pick can instil in the receiver. These depictions “highlight the dicks”, Ubbe explained, “without them having power over anyone or interfering in people’s private sphere”.
These images not only show penises in a variety of shapes and sizes, they also highlight the truly ridiculous nature of the dick pic.
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