The Beauties

Hudson’s photographic work ranges from universal visions of social structures to intimately personal visualizations of individual identity. In these works, he also explores his own personal struggle to meet the demands of a blended racial heritage. With the levity of disguise, Hudson is able to vastly change the superficial ‘first impression’. By dealing with the weighty subjects of ethnicity and sexuality through this dissection and multiplication of my own identity, I attempt to shed a playful and often humorous light on contentious issues.

The Beauties Series, which includes Staying Warm, Fun in the Sun, and America’s Most Beautiful Debs, are an example of works that explore conventions of beauty and sexuality as Hudson deciphers their connection to his own identity through digitally manipulated advertisements from vintage Ebony Magazine and Jet Magazine “Beauties of the Week”.

“As this series evolves, I’ve begun to use this imagery to explore my own identity by digitally superimposing my face onto the original images. The future of the series is to employ this style and approach including additional images of men as well as women, thereby examining the often indistinct borders of modern sexual identity.”