In National Pornographic, artist L.M. Forgie uses mixed-media collages to create a dialogue around human rights issues, while acknowledging the state of the world in late-stage capitalism and some of the factors that brought us here. Topics of sexuality, gender, and body image are especially relevant. Additional themes such as censorship and violence (both domestic and in the media) are found within the complex imagery. From a distance, the work appears demure and innocent. It forces the viewer to look closely to examine something wonderfully discomforting.
The photographs used to create the work are pulled from National Geographic, as well as pornographic magazines. Both vintage and recent periodicals are used because the concepts being addressed are informed by the past. Many of the individuals represented in the artworks are objectified and fetishized, caricatures of an "ideal woman”. They are sex workers; shunned by society, yet secretly worshiped in private. In the imagery, they confront the viewer and show no shame or remorse for who they are.
The selected images are transferred to sheer fabric, embellished by hand with embroidery, and hung like a tapestry on a dowel. This technique adds a sense of fragility to the pieces, which imposes a certain femininity and softness to the harsh content. In some of the work, the embroidery detailing allows a layer of censorship to be removed through delicate contour stitches.
The intricate detail of the embroidery accompanied by the allusion of graphic pornography provides a delightful, yet startling look at the way womanhood and sexuality are viewed in American culture. Undertones of violence and depictions of animals bring forth additional questions regarding cultural ethics and personal morals within our society.