Since the times of Adam and Eve, whose playfulness punished all mankind for eternity, naked human body has probably been the greatest taboo in art. But once unleashed from standard moral and ethical margins and placed between people, it speaks the language which has persistently been suppressed by upbringing, tradition, regulations of behaviour or dressing standards.

Erotic seen through the eye of Stijepo Brbora does not aim to speak of female (or human) beauty and purity. Its role is subversive; it rebels against enforced principles and legal framework, discussing human being as an animal that cannot be tamed.

Also, black and white photography is not a random choice. Especially when it speaks of naturalism.  Intervention of the naked body into space (which, spiritually or materially, symbolizes filth, decadence, ruins of an era or personality) achieves the contrast which emphasizes that the individual is negatively influenced by the environment, where the environment is the one who defiles the whiteness, innocence and purity of a human body.

And, contrary to the at-first-sight conclusions, the photography of Stijepo Brbora does not intent to shock; more to point at the deviancy and claustrophobia of the society which likes to be called modern, but still inhibited with institutional dogma and symbols of the times that passed.

Naked female body which desecrates the spiritual havens or marks the territory by urinating over the streets of the domicile town is merely the tool in the hands of an artist who sometimes discretely, sometimes explicitly and sometimes dramatically shows his revolt against the boundaries of the environment in which he lives.

Lidija  Deduš

Stijepo Brbora was born in Doli in 1953. He lives and works in Dubrovnik, with a focus on erotic photography. He publishes photos in magazines for the culture of photography (Refoto). He exhibits in the country and abroad. The distinctiveness and provocativeness of the expression brings many international awards at photography festivals. Erotica, as a story about emotions, is at the same time a mental provocation, emphasized claustrophobia, narcissistic voyeurism and subversion.

www.brbora.net