http://www.charlesfreger.com/
I recently came across the work of Charles Fréger, a French photographer who is known for his anthropological representation of social groups. In 2011 Fréger embarked on one of his biggest photographic challenges, which he successfully achieved with intriguing results. He travelled across 18 European countries, from Finland to Greece, to capture the pagan celebrations of the 'Wild Man'. The wild man is a mythological creature, the son of a bear and a woman. Fréger's resultant book titled 'Wilder Mann: the image as savage' documents the continuing importance placed on myth and ritual. The 'wild man' tradition celebrates themes such as fertility, sexuality, death and rebirth. The costumes are constructed accordingly, using the local materials. The subsequent costumes all presented different elements of each country and highlighted the significance they place on certain characters. Fréger explained that the act of accumulating the portraits became a ritual in itself.

When I first saw Fréger's 'wilder Mann' portraits I thought they were connected to the perfomance artist Nick Cave, who creates dynamic 'Soundsuits' from found materials. However, they seem to be completely disconnected from each other. The first piece in Nick Cave's 'Soundsuit' series had relatively spontaneous beginnings. He had been contemplating the issues surrounding the colour of his skin, in relation to the beating Rodney King, a fellow black man. He discovered a park in Chicago with lots of fallen twigs, discarded and devalued, so he proceeded to gather and transform them. He cut  all twigs down to 3 inches  and wired them to a piece of fabric by drilling a hole in each twig. The result was a wearable piece that he referred to as a second skin. The heavy twig suit forced Cave to stand very erect but rustled as he moved around. With a background in dance, Cave felt that he had found a way to bridge the gap between art and dance. The intentions behind the pagan costumes, photographed by Fréger, and the wearable sculptures of Cave are very different. However, they both present the use of local materials to construct wearable piece that challenge the body's natural appearance.

From Left to Right: Charles Fréger- Costume of The Babugeiri, from Bansko, Bulgaria. Dressed in goat skins, originally symbolising fertiltiy, hold a procession on 1 Janury.  Nick Cave- Twig sounduit.

 Nick Cave 'Soundsuit' discarded flower ornaments.

Nick Cave- 'Creature Couture' photo-shoot for City Magazine, photographed by Ted Sabarese

Nick Cave Soundsuit invasion in Westwood Village, courtesy of the Fowler Museum at UCLA