Thomas Dodd: Visualizing the Divine Feminine

Thomas Dodd’s artwork and photography exemplifies the coming together of traditional art and modern digital techniques. Thomas somehow has the inexplicable gift of seeing far beyond the mere surface of his models and into seemingly ancient and hidden ways of being. He portrays women as archetypal embodiments of the Divine Feminine. His determination to show women in the beautiful light in which he sees them is breathtaking.

I spent an afternoon with Thomas a few months ago as he soothed me into my first photoshoot. I’ve heard of photographers that help the model feel at peace, but Thomas exceeded that; I felt like an empowered goddess when it was all done! In addition to the gift of making art, I experienced wonderful conversation and time spent with a beautiful soul and an amazing talent. Here are some highlights from our conversation.

What is beauty to you?

I portray beauty as the fusion of the Divine Feminine with nature. To me, beauty is omnipresent. I think it is obviously perception-based. Although I know my work is almost conventionally beautiful in a sense (and people respond to it that way), I know beauty is not conventional. Buddha stated that he found beauty in the corpse of a dog; the white teeth were beautiful to him. So his point is that beauty is found in all cycles of life. Not just in the youthful, fertile and gorgeous. In my work, there is the element of femininity in the kind of wistful maiden aspect of the goddess. And as long as we’re talking goddess here, since I’m with someone that understands that, to me I use a bit more in the feminine element. I definitely consciously have that language of the three-fold and it has infused my work. I was raised Catholic, but no longer am a believer in that particular dogma, yet it has infused my work, especially with the Masters Caravaggio, Rembrandt and others. I was speaking with you earlier about a time in my life when I lived ritualistically and I read a lot of Joseph Campbell, Carl Jung, etc. and they all talk about the archetypes for femininity: maiden, nymph and crone. That all comes into my work. I haven’t depicted a lot of crone energy in my work, but it’s just as beautiful as the maiden or nymph energy.

I have found that when I consciously try to depict beauty, it is through this interaction of femininity with nature. I try not to limit myself to only the things I find beautiful. It’s just what works for me right now. I also find that when I don’t think very much about what I’m doing — when I just let my intuition take over — I create beautiful work. When I consciously try to conceptualize (usually darker or more macabre work), the results don’t seem to connect with people as much. So I find that the intuition definitely guides and my intuition tends to gravitate to those things that are archetypically beautiful. Anything can be beautiful based on the perception of the viewer.

Hope

What impact do you want to have? How do you want people to experience you/your art?

Ideally, I would like them to see the connection of my work with the influences of classic paintings, like the 19th century Pre-Raphaelites and the 20th century Symbolists. And I know not a lot of people have that background, especially in this country where people aren’t taught art in school, but have to seek an art education on their own. I was fortunate enough to come from a family with art books and art on the walls. I think it would be great if people knew the references and my take on it and that these are the footsteps I’m following in. However, I hear from a lot of people enjoying my work or buying my work the sentence “I don’t know art, but I know what I like.” As long as they can see the emotional content, even if they don’t understand the references or understand the myths or classics that I am working from, then the one thing I want them to get from my work is that emotion. It is a celebration of femininity. It is not exploitation. When there is nudity in my work, it isn’t something for people to gawk at or get titillated or turned on by, but I’m driven from a vast tradition of art and there is a celebration and respect for women in my work.

You can tell a lot about how people view sex, eroticism, and spirituality by their work – it reveals their true feelings. A lot of artists (not all and not the majority, but a fair amount and more so photographers), there is a borderline contempt for women. The way they talk about models, especially in the glamour setting. I get the sense that they think women just need to shut up and be fuckable. And you look at their work and it is all a one dimensional take on sexuality and women. To me, it’s not depicting the true power of sexuality. Yes, some of my work is erotic and there is a sexuality to it, but to me there’s a component of the woman being powerful or celebrated and not being dominated or controlled by the male.

What do you look for in a model?

I look for the ability to convey an emotion – it’s the most important thing. Sometimes I’ll take a chance on somebody who has no experience and find that they are brilliant at emoting. I like redheads, pale skin, dark hair, the timeless English Rose. It’s not just beauty or symmetry, or falling into the aesthetic that I tend to gravitate to because if someone can connect emotionally to the camera, often I will work with them … regardless of what they look like.

Thomas Dodd’s art and photography. Enjoy the journey of looking through his pieces here at Model Society and his website as well. You will not be disappointed.

What do you see when you look at these images? How do you relate to yourself and to images of women in art and society when you reflect on this work?