Abril is a Spanish photographer who heavily focuses on the topics of Sexuality, eating disorders and misogyny.
She has won the photobook of the year award and the Paul Huf award for her work.
Born in Spain, Abril became a journalist until she moved the New York City to study photography. She eventually got a job at Colors magazine where she worked as a staff photographer and consultant photo editor.
In Abril’s book ‘The Epilogue’ she follows the tragic story of a girl who died of bulimia and her family. The majority of the book consists of portraits, archived images / notes and images of specific items and buildings with relevance to the family. However in the very middle of the book there is a hallowing image of the girls scales from her home. This photo brings a lot of emphasis to the scales which is understandable as people who have bulimia often become very obsessed with them. It seems fair to say that the scales are what killed this girl and her obsession with them was severely unhealthy.
I would like to match this technique with my zine and produce an image with direct relevance and effect to the subjects of my other portraits.
Contextual – These are the scales used by the subject however they are a good representation of all people suffering food disorders in a time where expectations for body image depicted in society are very high, unhealthy and unrealistic.
Visual / technical – This image shows very high key lighting with minimal shadows and it is likely that it was taken in a studio. The harsh lighting could be seen as a reflection of the harsh reality that is bulimia.