2021 Senior Exhibition Artists

Tiffani Pothier

Art + Design: Photography

About Tiffani Pothier

Tiffani Pothier is a photographer and fine artist based in Massachusetts. She received her BFA in Photography from the College of Visual and Preforming Arts at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in 2021. Her freshman year in college introduced her with the art of film photography. Tiffani now can be found with a DSLR and a film camera out when photographing. She enjoys interacting with her community while creating.

Statement

“I like your boots.” is a portrait series of men I approach on the streets of the city where I grew up. I took my passion of photographing people and combined it with interacting with humans I don’t know. I’ve created relationships with people I most likely wouldn’t have had relationships with. In this creative process I have built a routine which is to introduce myself and give a short preface on why I’m walking around with a camera asking if I can photograph people. It’s something I realize isn’t “normal” and can make people somewhat uncomfortable. I have learned a lot about other people as well as myself. I don’t mind approaching strangers, I enjoy meeting new people and making something relatively different become spontaneous and enjoyable. I’ve focused specifically on men in efforts to bend the stigma of men approaching women. Women have been conditioned to make men feel comfortable in situations of discomfort. This being said I have found it far easier to make men feel comfortable rather than women. I have approached a handful of women which has resulted in rejection and shyness. Being a woman, I chose to put the gaze on men rather than the reverse. Women are often objectified and looked at as a sex symbol. What about men?