Interview with ARTvis Magazine 2005
Artist Lilje interviewed by Susan Gadster
Lilje is working on a long-term project to create an image of the average woman.
What is the Eve Project?
Simply it is the average measurement of many women across all boundaries. It
is presented by compositing the images of the women into a new average image,
using the average measurement as a guide for each part. It's like simple statistics,
really, but in a more beatiful form.
The idea is that if all women come from a single mother, then all women are
variations of a theme, or central measurement. By finding the average we can
see what every woman's great great great great...etc grandmother looks like.
Her Earthmother if you will. Like plotting a line between a lot of similar points.
So it's quite a simple idea. Is it simple to execute?
On the face it sounds simple, but its remarkably complex, well for me at least,
to execute properly. You can't just go and blend all the photos together, you
end up with a mess, I know, I've tried. I first have to find the average of
every significant point, like height, distance from chin to belly button, arm
length, so on. Then each image has to be adjusted so that it fits the average.
Arms made longer or shorter, heads bigger, smaller. Every time I get a new image
I have to readjust all the other images to get an accurate result again. When
I started the project I knew very little about maths, but I wrote a computer
program to ease the burden of adjusting all the images, scaling body parts to
the average, blending each image with an equal amount. Because the quality of
images I get varies, I have to average the tonal differences of all the image
first. So yes, it's a little technical, not all fun and games. It's good to
have clever friends though.
The image of Eve already looks like a real person. It's
hard to tell she's made up. Does she seem real to you?
She does. It feels like she was given birth as a communal effort. I know a lot
of the volunteers feel connected with other volunteers even though they've never
met. So yes, she is as real as any of them.
Where did the idea come from?
As a portraitist I'm always interested in human proportion, and the differences
between people. Each portrait requires me to make measurements of the person
so that I can paint when they're not there.
I knew that some measurements were roughly equal, like foot length and forearm
length. While I was painting a model who had absolutely perfect facial features,
measurement wise, the idea struck that if I could find out what the average
was I could paint the average woman without a model and use it as a reference,
because current art theory is way out, especially about how many heads high
a person is, and so on. Thighs, for example are much smaller in reality than
art theory tells us. So I thought I could paint more accurate portraits by knowing
where to start, because I always work from the middle outward, in tone, colour
or shape.
What about the discoveries you've made from measuring Eve?
Well her proportions correspond with the Earth quite amazingly. She is 1.618
x100 cm tall. Precisely. 1.618 is the golden ratio and a cm is 1 billionth the
radius of the Earth. 1.618 Is how everything subdivides, including gravity.
This is so fascinating and I know a lot of women are saying, "Ha! I knew
it all along." Mother nature and so on. But it does seem to reveal something
about the sublime relationship between Woman and Earth.
Is is difficult to find people to pose? It must be quite
daunting knowing you're going to be measured.
It isn't too difficult, though I don't actively look for volunteers, they find
me. I like it that way, because each person will decide that it is the right
time in their life to do it. You can't recognise any one person in the final
image, and it's for a good cause.
Have you come across anyone that doesn't like the image.
Well there are some grumblings from a few religious people, but they're not
too upset because it does go along with their beliefs in general.
Do you believe the Biblical Eve existed?
Well she does now. Now all I have to do is find the average voice and maybe
she can tell us herself.
How long before Eve is finished?
She's about 10% finished. The image is starting to stabilise. When there are
just a few volunteers the final image varies a lot, because the average changes
a lot. But there are enough now that each new volunteer changes the image, but
not dramatically. I don't know what it will look like when it's complete.
There are other artists who are starting similar projects. What do you
think of Shane Cooper's project and others?
Wonderful. It will be so exciting to compare notes and final images. I'm hoping
we can create a further image as a collaboration. I know Shane is using stock
photography from 3d.sk, so I hope it isn't just about models. The aim is to
find the perfect average of the real women out there.
Is it true there are celebrities involved in the project?
Yes, there are 2 well-known people who have contributed to Eve.
Can you tell us who?
Nope.
Why do you need 1618 volunteers?
Another amazing discovery. It's the maximum amount of tonal variation
a human being can perceive, so if each image is 1 of 1618 then each image contributes
somethinge perceptable to the final image. I supposed I could complete the piece
with fewer images, but 1618 would be the most complete solution.