Erik Kessels, In Almost Every Picture 15, 2015

From careful brushes to jealous scribbles, the stylistic range of how figures are censored is quite diverse. But the defacements here seem more concerned with the censor’s own feelings rather than enhancing the overall aesthetic. In these images it is easy to deduce that the censored figures are women – snippets of purses or high heels, the blobs’ lingering feminine form. The censor’s hand lends them an eerie quality, whether by accident or not. Yet the pictures are also very romantic. A woman loves her man so much, she wishes to never see him with anyone else but her. Rather than destroying or discarding the pictures entirely, her markings let everyone know, “He’s mine”.