Susan Bozic: The Dating Portfolio

Susan Bozic's work recalls the performance-based photography of Cindy Sherman and Jeff Wall while taking as its subject the social construction of romance. Bozic's character's dates a male mannequin and, through her photographs, we follow the couple from courtship and meeting the family to intimacy. Bozic reflects on consumer society's pursuit of happiness and the good life while referencing the internet dating phenomenon by staging dates with someone a little bit "different." Her project merges the optimism of movie-star promotional photographs with questions about both the tradition of courtship and its current state. Two essays elucidate her practice.