Ly Lestberg
Hands

Ly Lestberg's enlarged photographs of arms and legs seem more like landscapes or independent objects than live, 'fleshy' body parts. Lestberg's earlier photographs of male nudes deal with an aesthetic, sculptural approach* in a similar way – the anonymous and ideal bodies in exquisitely composed positions seem more like marble statues than real people. “The delicate movements or poses of the models are always embraced by laboratory's general light or total darkness. There is no reference to environment or any dependence on it. The Man endlessly takes on new deformed positions in his sterile solitude, the pointlessness of the activity adding a sense peculiarity. A nightmarish revolving around one's physical axis.
Every pose is like a puzzling fragment of a sentence from an ongoing monologue. The Man never glances at the viewer – he lives his life of slow changes, withdrawn and distanced. Somewhere in the immaterial world, perhaps in the ether. This world is recognizably governed by aesthetics, harsh and versatile in its appearance. The aesthetics of Ly Lestberg. attacks all that is considered appropriate. Varying the angles, framing, poses, etc she confirms its effectiveness everywhere within the borders of her microcosm."**

Anu Allas

* Johannes Saar, Men of Ly Lestberg. – Sirp, 25.IX.1992.
** Katrin Kivimaa, Revolting 90s in Estonian Art. – Private Views. Spaces and Gender in Contemporary Art from Britain and Estonia. Ed. Angela Dimitrakaki, Pam Skelton, Mare Tralla. London: Women's Art Library, 2000, lk. 94.