NEXSTSTOP NORTHAMPTON: 'The Internet Femme fatale x Ada'

Red filter like the red light district. Blurred and out of focus like a night out in town. Sectioned images, cropped and transposed on a black background. Each one after the next barely shows her face. Close-ups. Sexuality. Ropes and Censored bits.

The over sexualisation of the female body is an expression older than the Internet itself. Ada deals first-hand with the frustration caused, by choosing to make Art from it. Collage artist, Photographer and Painter, across her works plenty and surreal, I settled on the recurring character, her photographic image of what I call “The Internet's Femme fatale”.

It's fair to say, the ideological lens through which the modern woman is looked at, becomes dulled and lazied by the minute. With the checkbox ‘male or female’ applying less to a handful of the population. Still every aspect of the 'female form' is commodified degree by degree. At no time has the image of the ‘Femme fatale’ in Art and Literature been more useful than it is today. Useful in its potential for political self expression.

More than an object of perverse male desire and subsequent male simphood. The Femme fatale in literature has its richer history dating to the feminine Eve in the garden. She represents the blind spot in the tired old male gaze. A blind spot that conveniently hides itself, and like power - ultimately corrupts.

I came to Ada's work with my blinkers on. In our interview I convinced myself I had the best intentions. To ask questions and to understand. To interpret and find an angle. All the while unaware of that blind spot.

Already, I had seen the red light district and It reminded me of a night out in town. Cropped. I couldn't see her face even if I wanted. I take her in through close-ups, her sexuality is amplified. I'm roped. Censored bits.