Skin Deep
Cyd Peroni
Skin Deep is a series of pigment prints that explores female aging through the metaphor of construction debris. I started photographing during the pandemic with Sunday shooting trips to residential construction sites near my home. As I looked at the discarded, scrapped, mangled, forgotten, and broken building materials strewn on the ground, I began to see the forms and textures of the aging female body – sagging skin, thinning hair, drying membranes.
If aging had a color palette, I imagine it would be these pink to rust hues. The triptychs are symbolic of three aspects of aging: biological, psychological, and social. I’ve shared these images informally with friends and colleagues. There are often conflicting thoughts and emotions about growing older in a culture that reveres youth: trying to focus on gratitude for a healthy body, coping with sadness at losing a youthful appearance; reckoning with the lack of physical control over the aging process, acknowledging the freedoms that come with aging.
While the phrase “skin deep” connotes superficiality, my goal for the work is to spur deeper understanding and acknowledgment. Perhaps even some humor. Through the series, I hope to release our inner voices and find beauty in this universal experience.
Cyd Peroni is a visual artist exploring themes of change, impermanence, and beauty through the lens of nature and chance. Peroni experiments with contemporary and analog methods of image-making and materials to communicate her ideas. She searches for the often-unnoticed moments that tug instinctively at something deeper than reason and logic. Her work has been shown in solo and juried group exhibitions at Shemer Art Center (AZ); Eye Lounge (AZ); The Halide Project (PA); Medium Festival of Photography (CA); A Smith Gallery (TX); Light Art Space (NM); Art Intersection (AZ); Oglebay Institute’s Stifel Fine Arts Center (WV); Schorr Gallery (UT); University of Utah Museum of Natural History (UT); Kimball Arts Center (UT); Talon Gallery (AZ); Olney Gallery at Trinity Chapel (AZ); and The Gallery at Mountain Shadows (AZ). Peroni recently received recognition as a 2023 Critical Mass Top 200, 2025 Belfast Photo Fest Short List, and a Black & White Magazine Special Issue 165 winner.
Instagram: @prodigalcyd
