Exhibition text, Hanna Putz, Parasol Unit, London 2017

In 1971 the first woman aquired a professional motocross rider license, but had to return that license once it was disclosed that she wasn’t male.
Motocross is a sport that requires extreme amounts of mental resilience and incessant pushing of one’s limits. Surpassing restrictions, i.e. physical givens, is simply routine.
During her stay in Yekaterinenburg Hanna Putz met „Sasha“ a female motocross rider. Adopting characteristics that are deemed male, rumbling through the grid of common social constructs, this woman with a rather boyish, fragile body shape seems to conquer several male domains in one strike and with remarkable implicitness.
Her also present partner retrieves into the background and assumes an assisting role, perhaps becoming something like her extension when her physical strenght does not suffice, an astonishing, inversion of all the preceding surprises in this series. He also holds one of her dogs, fighting dogs with fear inducing frames.
Putz catches moments in which qualities that are distinctly perceived to be feminine are still appearing, a wariness in the handling of the machine, an almost fostering kind of taking control of the comparatively massive vehicle. As if faced with the care of the circus rider towards its animal, the woman retains grace in the midst of the sludge she is plunging into, like a gentle choreography.
There are two photographs that amplify the manifold of this series. In one, she stands with her partner, and while the bond between the lovers is almost tangible, a distance remains, probably being aware of the need to maintain independence during the race. In another one, her big dog overwhelms her with love, but not without the automatic reigning in of its physical power, which, in this frame, works like a mirroring of what Sasha is undertaking.
Perhaps the most striking fact is that during the race Sasha is not identifiable as a woman. In addition, her nickname, derived from Aleksandra, is used for both, men and women in Russia. Her suit, plastered with advertising, evolves from mere protective measure to a standard bearer uniform, as it is common for any sportsperson. But this just further underlines the contrast between the utilisation of a person for commercial purpose and its egalitarian handling beyond sex and the otherwise accentuated gender oriented contextualisation in our society. Human advertising colums are the traditional heroes of the present era, standing out as the best seems to naturally grant you such honors. Nowadays we have induced this rite of persona as status and currency into various areas, having spread gradually from celebrities to social media phenomenon. Personal preferences become assets, one day they might replace what we call soft skills today.
Following Sasha through the race the series ends in a rave, a mass with male nudity on display. In this light the precursory photographs almost seem to be a preparatory act, a dulling, that leads to this apparently harsh event.
This series contains fundamental dichotomies, incorporating tenderness and the raw, finesse and impetuosity, often in one photograph. The effortless reconciliation of opposites urges us to question obsolete assumptions and the need for categories.