Sunday Morning

"Sunday Morning", Matuschka, 1981. Color Photograph

This color photograph is a self-portrait of the artist, designed to challenge the expectations and beauty standards of females in western culture. Sunday Morning is the first photography Matuschka took where she is fully nude and facing the camera. As the light streams in from the left side of the frame it emphasized her still-there left breast and the scars from the mastectomy she had on her right breast. The artist chose to have the breast removed when doctors discovered a tumor, knowing both her mother and grandmother had died from breast cancer that spread too far too quickly. As most professional photographs of women feature symmetrical, thin young females with soft feminine features, Matuschka self-portrait forces viewers to reevaluate what defines beauty.