Identity construction and body manipulation in contemporary photography

A gender perspective from balinese culture

Abstract

This study examines how the human body is represented and identity is reconfigured through photographic practices that deliberately transcend the conventional binary of masculinity and femininity. Employing a critical descriptive approach, it analyzes a significant aesthetic shift—from the exoticized, colonial legacy of traditional body imagery toward fluid, contradictory, and politically charged representations. The findings reveal that contemporary Balinese photographers utilize visual manipulation not merely as provocation, but as a subtle strategy of identity negotiation. By appropriating and reinterpreting theatrical elements embedded in local cultural traditions, particularly cross-gender practices in classical Balinese performance, these works establish cultural legitimacy for contemporary gender discourse. Through the blurring of physical boundaries and the deconstruction of cultural symbols, such imagery functions as a critical intervention against rigid heteronormativity in the public sphere. Ultimately, the study positions the Balinese body in contemporary photography as a contested and dynamic site of meaning, where tradition and modernity intersect to articulate more inclusive understandings of human identity.