FKA Twigs: Objectification or Reclamation?

As Susan Sontag writes in her book On Photography, “To photograph is to confer importance” (Sontag, 1977, pg. 28). We can use this to reflect on an image show in Figure 1 of the artist Tahliah Barnett, who goes by the stage name FKA Twigs, used for the Calvin Klein “Calvins of Nothing” in April 2023. The image was part of a wider campaign using celebrities such as Kendal Jenner, Jeremy Allen White and Aaron Taylor-Johnson and appeared on posters in the UK. The advert went widely unopposed in its first few months of appearing in public until January 10th 2024 went the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) banned it in the UK on the premise that "image's composition placed viewers' focus on the model's body rather than on the clothing being advertised" (Calvin Klein: Ad with FKA twigs banned for objectifying women, 2024). Discourse around this decision has been the subject of many conversations about intersectionality and third wave feminism bringing up questions of power – is she as an artist, personality and being the ‘importance’ that is being conferred, or is it the commodification of her body, gender and race that gives her ‘importance’? After all, can both of these be true and exist simultaneously and if so, is what is understood first the most significant? As approached in Ferdinand de Saussare’s study of semiotics as the linguistics of signs (De Saussure, 1916), we can dissect signals through a ‘code’ like analysis – relating them to our own experiences and interests. In this essay I will highlight that the commodification of the body to promote a brand fetishizes FKA Twigs within the inescapable social systems we exist within. However, I will argue there is an advancement of social justice through the reclamation of power and how reframing the male gaze aspect of the image allows her to promote her agency.

I begin with the male gazer and Laura Mulvey’s reflections on the voyeuristic notion of scopophilia, a term for the pleasure of looking. She uses cinema to analyze the gaze and studies Freuds Three Essays on Sexuality. Here she presents that there is a dichotomy of objectification and narcissism that plays simultaneously. When talking about cinema she says that “The conventions of mainstream film focus attention on the human form” (Mulvey, 1989). We can directly relate this to photography as film and photography hold the same aspect of creating permeance. There is a fascination with the human form, especially the ‘nude’ vs ‘naked’. In this advertisement, I will argue that FKA Twigs is pictured nude. The reason behind this lies within her agency. First, we must analyze her semiotics as the subject. She is stood, naked, with just a shirt draped over her to cover sexualized aspects of the female body. Her hips are posed to stick out and her breast pressed against her extenuating the contours of her female figure. One must ask themselves, where does the agency lie here? Arguably, the garment is acting as an ornament - with the definition of having “freedom from practical necessity” (L Negrin, 2016, pg 117). Secondly, we must consider the context behind the photograph. The purpose is to advertise a clothing brand – more specifically their underwear. So why is she not wearing any and instead the only garment on show is a nondescript denim shirt with no branding. If there is no direct product being advertised, her body must be the commodity. Additionally, the photo exists “in a world ordered by imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female” (Mulvey, 1989), this must be considered when identifying the image producers - Mert Alas and Marcus Piggot, a male identifying duo. John Berger puts it perfectly in his book Ways of Seeing, arguing that “to be nude is to be seen naked by others and yet not recognized for oneself” (Berger, 1972). Here – FKA Twigs has been purposefully fashioned through styling to be seen naked, stripping her of her agency that she might have had if it was self-decided and existed within a semiotic vacuum. Although I do not know exactly who the stylist was, what gender they were or whether the intention behind the styling was directed by the team or FKA Twigs herself, the male gaze is subjecting her to being seen – objectifying her body as nude and submissive in a hegemonic patriarchal society that the advertisement exists within.

When the advertisement got banned in the UK - the reaction of the FKA Twigs as the subject herself was one of disappointment. As Judith Butler puts it, “to be woman is to have become woman, to compel the body to conform to an historical idea of ’woman’ to induce the body to become a cultural sign,” (Judith Butler 1998, pg. 152: McCartney and Weiner, 2024). So arguably, FKA Twigs reclamation of agency through her statement that directly contradicts the encoded systems of prejudice signaled through the semiotics of this image advancing some sort of social justice at the intersection of gender, race and body politics. In a statement released on her Instagram she reclaims the image attributing other women that have been subject to the same kind of scrutiny, saying she sees a “beautiful women of colour whose incredible body has overcome more pain than you can image” (Figure 2). This advertisement exists in a Eurocentric standard of beauty that has been engrained through colonial systems and attitudes that sadly remain through systems of misrepresentation and othering. The double standards that exist with the reception of the campaign are apparent. Her fellow models that took part are also overtly hyper-sexualized, however did not receive the same judgements that FKA Twigs did. One could argue that all the other models are wearing the advertised underwear. However, there seems to be an imbalance in perception between her and her fellow counterparts. Intersectionality is important when considering the cultural impact that the reception of the image had. Intersectional Feminism arose due to the exclusion of other points of discrimination that can be experienced simultaneously, which previous variants of feminism failed to recognize. Empowerment through intersectional feminism discourages stale attitudes to the contemporary environment we engage with. In the case of FKA Twigs are her representation as a woman of the colour, “the ability to manipulate the gaze in the face of structures of domination that would contain it, opens up the possibility of agency” (Hooks, 1992, pg.116: Osei, 2024). Foucault’s reflection on the Body Politics and its role social control frames FKA Twigs reaction as an act of resistance. Foucault’s metaphor of the Panopticon and our role as surveilled members of society through the body in modern institutions normalizes that judgements are often made through visual means (Rocamora and Smelik, 2019, pg.189). Using this, our judgement of FKA Twigs’ idleness as an object is solidified as our bias comes from a completely visual point of view that comes with fashion advertisement. However, her statement that is communicated verbally makes us question the biases that our own judgements hold. As an act of resistance, she subverts the systems of oppression the image has been conjured in and reformulates the way gender, race and the body are exhibited through fashion communication.  

We can conclude with another quote from Susan Sontag’s On Photography where she says that “the conflict of interest between objectivity and subjectivity, between demonstration and supposition, is un-resolvable" (Sontag, 1977, pg.135). We must acknowledge that the relationship of power being the photographer and the subject is imbalanced, no matter the inclusion of the subject in the creative direction. The capitalistic system of economics that we exist in allows for commodity fetishism to relate to the natural body letting it become an object that can advocate for an implied product without even being present. On one hand, this implication is a negative tool in upholding the systems of oppression we exist in. Especially in terms of gender, the perceived body and the difference between ‘naked’ and ‘nude’ can strip away one's agency. As we exist in a patriarchal society which always is engaged within our lives - how do we challenge these injustices? FKA Twigs is a great example of how an act of verbal resistance can bring forth intersectionalities that need to be considered when engaging with visual popular culture. Her reclamation of public discourse and identification that racial representation plays a crucial role in empowerment gives motion to advancements of social justices. And now, as of the 6th March 2024, the ban on the image by the ASA has reversed its initial ruling stating that “the image was not sexually explicit, that the ad presented FKA Twigs as confident and in control and, therefore, that she had not been objectified.” (Banfield-Nwachi, 2024) however have maintained that the advert was “overtly sexual” and not suitable to be on display through an untargeted medium. The role of FKA Twigs approving the photo was highlighted in their ruling – arguably provided the singer with agency over her image and being part of the creative process allows her to dissolve the system they play a role in.