From issue: #8 The Graduate Issue 2020
Ana Blumenkron (born 1989) grew up in Mexico and now lives and works in London. Foreplay is an investigation of her sexual life as a single person during the coronavirus lockdown that also engages with misogyny in her home country.
Experiencing a lack of human contact and anxiety about living alone, Blumenkron searched for intimate romantic relationships on dating apps like Hinge and Bumble. Use of sex-centric dating apps increased massively during lockdown, with people turning to mutual sexual exploration of their own bodies and sexting for sexual satisfaction. For Foreplay, Blumenkron engaged in online conversations with prospective amours, which she screenshotted, and took snapshot-like self-portraits with Polaroid and Instax cameras. By doing so, she attempted to reconnect with her body and sexuality – something that she never would have done in her native Mexico, where sexual harassment and femicide are major issues and pejorative sexual terms and body shaming seemingly remain the norm. Foreplay is therefore both a project of self-healing and awareness raising.
Ana Blumenkron just finished her MA in photojournalism and documentary photography at University of the Arts London.
