Claude Cahun:

Claude Cahun was a lesbian , Jewish-French Photographer. She was born on October 25th 1894 and moved to Jersey in 1937.

Cahun is best known for her part in the surrealism movement. She worked with self-portraits, which often displayed her in various poses and places with her face, more often than not, covered up.

With her work, Cahun was very political and aimed to use her photos as a way express herself during a time when lesbians and the Jewish were prosecuted for who they were.

Clare Rae:

Clare Rae is an Australian photographer who recently took residence in Jersey for a short time. She wanted to study, take inspiration from, and respond to the work of Claude Cahun.

CCA gallery visit:

On Friday 14th September, my photography class visited an exhibition at the CCA gallery in St. Helier to look at the work of Claude Cahun and Clare Rae’s response and interpretation of her work.

I thought that the exhibition was really well layed out and it was easy to know which photographer’s work I was looking at as the two were  nicely separated without making them look like separate exhibitions.

By looking at the photos in the exhibition is it easy to see where Claude Cahun has influenced Clare Rae’s work. I noticed that Rae wasn’t wearing any foot wear in her photos and upon further inspection, I noticed the same thing in Cahun’s photos. Another similarity between the different photographers is that they are both taken in similar places. Interesting structures and ares of nature are both common to each pieces of work. Both photographers use their surroundings to give a certain feel to the photos that is often calming, chaotic or miserable.

This image by Claude Cahun was one of my favorites. The image shows Cahun hiding behind a large rock with her arms sticking out through the holes in the object. To me, this shows that Cahun is, in a way, apart of the object. However, the stretched out actions of her hands suggests that Cahun is trying to reach out and escape. This could be a reference to the German Occupation of Jersey as that was similarly something that Cahun was apart of, but wanted to be free of.

This photo by Clare Rae has a very similar style to Cahun’s work as the image shows Rae with her back to the camera and her face hidden, which is a common occurrence in Cahun’s work. The dark walls of the cave give a feeling a being trapped and isolated. This was likely how Cahun felt during the Occupation due to being a Jewish lesbian. It is clear that Rae has tried to recreate this in this image.