WORK OF JUSTINE KURLAND (GIRL PICTURES)

WHO IS JUSTINE KURLAND?

Justine Kurland is a contemporary American photographer. Her work often depicts communes in rural America as her subject matter, inspired by 19th-century idyllic English landscape painting, children’s fairy tales, and Julia Margaret Cameron’s photographs, among others sources.

PURPOSE FOR THE GIRL PICTURES PHOTOSHOOT:

The objective to the Girl Picture photoshoot was to deliver the fantasy of a ‘female utopia’ and a stereotypical teenage girl fantasy. While Kurland is trying to reinforce this feminine utopian world she is also trying to show the impact of female intimacy and how girls are able to strengthen and support each other whereas individually they are seen as vulnerable and weak. While Kurland was trying to highlight this teenage fantasy and support the girls she is playing into the dominant ideology of females. Laura Mulvey states that women are represented for the visual pleasure for the male sex, Kurland supports this theory by representing the girls in a hyper-feminine stereotype; playing in flower fields which have connotations of pure and delicate, girls getting ready in the bathroom perhaps for a night out makeup is stereotypically products for females and they are wearing elegant, earthy colours which men would not stereotypically seen in. This shoot may target a wide range of audiences including: paedophiles, advertisers, recruiters, social-media influencers, fashion magazines, due to the fact they all traffic in photo media.

WHY TAKE INSPIRATION FROM THIS PHOTOSHOOT?

Justine Kurland’s Girl Pictures photoshoot shows the adventures of girls during their teenage years. This shoot is reinforcing the ideology of teenage girls identity and how it is assumed how they spend their time together. This photoshoot is easy to manipulate due to it being targeted to teenagers and young adults. Girl Pictures coordinates with the identity project within my unit of Portraiture, this photoshoot is something I am able to have a deeper connection and understanding with.

IMAGE ANALYSIS:

This image has an overall earthy and subtle hint of pink tone which reinforces this feminine stereotype. Pink is stereotypically a female colour and has connotations of love, kindness, nurturing and playfulness. Playfulness is seen within this image as the girl is using a hula hoop, furthermore showcasing the feminine ideology through the girls clothing’s. The focal point of the image is the girl in the centre third (rule of thirds) which implies that the image is about her or overall about women. The height difference between the girl standing, and the two girls sitting on the floor, could be an underlying connotation Kurland created in order to signify; that no many how many women rise in the hierarchy we will always be the submissive sex. The lighting is natural and stationary which further creates this minimalistic image. In Kurland’s project Girl Pictures she has created a minimal aesthetic by using soft, subtle colours yet adding that hint of colour needed in order to show this femininity within the use of colours. It is interesting to see how Kurland portrays femininity through colours and aesthetic and how she portrays teenage girls in a delusion created by an audience, to fulfil their fantasy.

Justine Kurland is an American photographer who is famous for her book of ‘girl pictures’ which includes images of girls in rural landscapes, focusing on the theme of femininity. There is a sense of freedom throughout the images as the teenage girls are seen to be exploring nature with no care in the world, not worrying about judgement that would typically come from males. Kurland’s images were inspired by the after-school TV special. She also channelled her “raw, angry energy of girl bands”, into her photographs she took of teenage girls.

How it all started

Justine Kurland stated by taking photos of a teenage girl called Alyssum, who was the daughter of a guy she was dating. Some could say that Alyssum was a rebellious child as she was known for skipping school and smoking pot, which is why Kurland decided she would start to take photos of her. They both came up with the idea that Alyssum would be the subject, known as the ‘teenage runaway.’

Kurland then decided to expand her cast, she added some collage freshmen and any teenage girls that genuinely wanted to collaborate with her. The teenage girls were known as the ‘runaways’, they built forts in forests, which can be seen in the images.

In my opinion, Justine Kurland’s work relates to the theme of felinity as her images show teenage girls that have been given freedom. I like how there is a sense of nostalgia and enjoyment through out all the images as the teenage girls are doing activities that some would consider more masculine, for example camping in the woods and getting muddy.

For this project I am going to base my work off of Justine Kurland as I think her way exploring what it is to be feminine is unique and creative.

Image analysis:

This is a digital image taken by Justine Kurland. The mise-en-scene presents Alyssum sitting in a blossom tree between Hudson river and a highway. This image has been taken on a straight on angle, and has a large depth of field using a f-stop of around f/11 or f/16. I know this because all/most of the image is in focus. Kurland has used the rule of thirds, and it can be argued that she has used leading lines to show the audience where the focal point is.

Anna Gaskell is an american artist who is known for her photography, video, and film work. She is inspired by fairy tales, myths, and other stories, and often surreal and dreamlike, and she has been compared to artists like Lewis Carroll and the brothers Grimm.

wikipedia

Anna Gaskell (born October 22, 1969) is an American art photographer and artist from Des Moines, Iowa.
She is best known for her photographic series that she calls “elliptical narratives” which are similar to the works produced by Cindy Sherman. Like Sherman, Gaskell’s works are influenced by film and painting, rather than the typical conventions of photography. She lives and works in New York.

Career
Gaskell stages all of her scenes, using the style of “narrative photography,” wherein each scene exists only to be photographed. Gaskell pioneers a new discourse of contemporary photography where within each of her series, the narrative of her photographs is disrupted, “its fragments functioning like film stills excised from their context but suggesting a missing whole. “There are gaps of space and time left between each photograph, evoking a “vivid and dreamlike world. “In a 2002 interview with curator Matthew Drutt of the Menil Collection, Gaskell describes her creative process and the inspiration she draws from other sources in the following way: “The stories and events that I choose to use as jumping-off points are simply that. They are only a part of what goes into the work, and perhaps a useful reference for viewers. […] Trying to combine fiction, fact, and my own personal mishmash of life into something new is how I make my work. Into all of this, I try to insert a degree of mystery that ensures that the dots may not connect in the same way every time.”

Anna Gaskell Is another photographer that inspires me due to her using multiple people to create a utopian reality by exploring imagination and creativity. For one of my photoshoots I am going to take similar photos to her with my friend group. This links to the theme of identity as its looking into different people imagination and their different perspectives on how they view the world. I might also take her idea of fantasy and turn it dystopian to look at the reality of the world, This would help create contrasting images which I can join together to create one single image

Davey was born in Brighton in 1964. She studied painting at bath Academy of fine art(1985) and social policy at the University of Brighton (1990). She was a psychotherapist for 15 years before taking up photography in 2014, which she studied at Plymouth University(MA 2014 and MFA 2016).

Her photographic practice focuses on her family, community and self, and is informed by her background in psychology. Her series Looking for Alice is a portrait of her daughter Alice who has Down syndrome. One of the photographs from this series was selected for the 2014 Taylor Wessing photographic portrait prize exhibition. The series was published by Trolley Books in 2015. In 2016, Looking for Alice was shortlisted for Photobook of the Year in the Paris photo-aperture.

I have chosen Sian as an artist reference because she relates to femininity and what it is to be a girl. Her project of her daughter and what her daughter does with her friends and personal life. I took inspiration from her in my work as I want to create a set of images which will create a story of me and my friends. This could be created by gong on walks or adventures.

Image Analysis

The type of lighting used in the image is natural/ daylight which creates soft lighting. The colour and tone in the image is dark for example there are a lot of dark green, brown and dark blue. There is a lot of texture being created in the image from the different levels of people, some are sat down some standing. There are a lot of things on the floor which also creates texture such as rubbish shoes, bags and other bits almost making the image 3D. To me the emotion in Sian Davey’s daughter face feels as if she doesn’t want her Mum to be there, almost as if she’s invading her privacy and personal life with friends. The emotions on her friends face may say the same.

In an interview with Sian Davey she said:

“PW: You mention anxiety and uncertainty in your description of Looking for Alice and use photography as a tool to understand your relationship with your daughter, Alice. How did your background in psychotherapy inform this project?

SD: Uncertainty creates anxiety and fear, which always affects our relationships adversely, receiving my new daughter’s diagnosis (Downs Syndrome) it was fear of the unknown that was difficult and it was this that affected my earliest connection with her. My background as a psychotherapist gave me a sharp sense of responsibility to address the situation with my new baby and fundamentally informs the way I work photographically. Whilst working on the Alice series I certainly developed a stronger understanding of the more intimate aspects of the process.”

Justine Kurland’s take on the classic American tale of the runaway takes us on a wild ride of freedom, memorializing the fleeting moments of adolescence and its fearless protagonists.

Kurland was born in Warsaw, New York. Her mother sold costumes at Renaissance fairs, so Kurland and her sister lived a somewhat nomadic lifestyle. At 15, Kurland ran away to Manhattan, moved in with a sympathetic aunt, and concentrated on becoming an artist.

She earned her M.F.A. from Yale University in 1998. The following year, Kurland exhibited in the group show Another Girl, Another Planet, which critics considered a preview of a new generation of talented and innovative female photographers.

Both Kurland’s childhood adventures and her current experiences influence her working style and subject matter. She now spends much of her time on the road, scouting locations for photographs and recruiting models.

While her earlier photographs of schoolgirls were inspired by her own experience as a runaway, the birth of her son Casper in 2004 shifted her focus to pregnant women and mothers. Kurland also attributes her more recent photographs of trains and train stowaways to Casper’s love of those vehicles.

This kind of ironic playfulness repeats itself over and over again in this book. Even the title, Girl Pictures, embossed onto the powder pink cover feels vaguely tongue-in-cheek. It sounds dirty or patronizing. Just one letter shy of girly pictures, the title of this book is akin to categories like “chick lit” or “chick flicks.” I can almost hear someone critiquing these photographs as just a bunch of “girl pictures.” It makes me think of that image with the girl’s hands over the boy’s eyes again. What if rather than removing his perspective, you just take it directly from him? The title feels this way to me, like something stolen back.

“There’s something political about creating a world that you want to exist“

Image Analysis

In this image the light is dull and reminds me of autumn time. This is because of the colours of the leaves and clothing the people are wearing. The focal point of the image would be the woman circled she is about to get into the water. The image shows a group of friends about to get into the water. The layout of the people in the image creates layers and as if the woman getting into the water is the main girl in the group as people are looking up to her.

Clare Rae Inspiration:

I want to venture out to the cliffs and beaches of Jersey and take some of my own photos in reminiscence to Clare Rae’s album, “Never standing on two feet”. The places in particular can be West Park, Bonne Nuit, St. Brelade’s Bay, Corbiere, Beauport Beach, St Ouen’s Beach.

Rineke and Nicolai Inspiration:

I want to take photos of whoever two times, one before doing a task and one after doing a task. Similar to Nicolai Howalt’s work when he photographs boxers before and after their fight. I can also just photograph only after their fight, like Rineke Dijkstra’s work. With these photos I want to represent masculinity and what is usually expected from a man. I can do a photo showing what someone looks like before working out in the gym and after. I can do the same but with a person after a street fight or after a war etc..

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I used a vintage pre-set on this image:

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Justine Kurland- Girl Pictures

My main inspiration for this photoshoot is Justine Kurland’s ‘Girl Pictures’ book. i believe that this book defines feminism very well due to every photo being very unique and capturing different types of people.

Justine Kurland’s main inspiration for this book was from a young girl in which Justine used to date her father. The girl was sent to live with her father after her mother kicked her out for skipping school and doing drugs. Justine then formed the idea of a photoshoot based on ‘alyssum as a teenage runaway’. where she scouted for models outside various high schools. She also gained inspiration from a TV show about the tales of teenage delinquency.

Justine Kurland’s Girl pictures bring a sense or nostalgia. Every girl in each photo have their own story however come together to live a similar lifestyle. They live without a care in the world, and are truly living their teenage years. Therefore many of the images in Girl Pictures were taken outside in locations that feel desolate or easy to overlook. They are often staged under bridges or beyond fences or on the sides of highways; places that feel synonymous with warnings. The privacy of the overpass is also potent with all the stories we’ve heard of women getting hurt in such places.

Image Analysis:

In Justine Kurland’s image, Femininity is shown throughout by a topless girl standing in front of the mirror. This is a defining aspect of the image as it is something that all girls have however, many people could see this as a young girl being vulnerable in front of a camera. Whereas Justine Kurland views this as empowering, as the subject has confidence within her own body to show it off. Another aspect within this image is the bright pink hand soap on the top of the sink counter top which is accompanied by a girl sat near it with a glossy pink magazine which she is reading. Femininity is shown further through the girl sat on the bathroom floor next to a bag which is spewing out with clothes, who looks like she is having trouble picking out her outfit. the image seems to have been taken at dusk due to the orange light shining through the window of the bathroom. However, the bathroom is light up very bright from the lights in the ceiling and above the mirror.

Where?

Fields (st saviour, st martins)

Woods (st catherines)

Streets/ housing estate (st helier)

Bathrooms

Bedroom

Sand dunes

Beach (st ouens)

When?

Afternoon/ mid-day so the lighting is good.

Who?

I will be getting a friendship group of girls to model for this shoot as it would refer to Justine Kurland’s girl pictures.

Image analysis:

This is a interesting image in my opinion as it is set in a rural area with five young girls in school uniform, which makes the viewer curious as to how they got there, and what they are doing there by themselves. The photo has been taken with natural lighting, at a level height with the main focal point being the two girls on someone else’s back, they look tired and warn out which feeds into Justine’s main inspiration of teenage delinquency and the idea of ‘runaway girls’.

Taken 50 years apart, both photographs portray the artists in two ways, with the use of multiple exposures in Cahun’s picture and a mirror in Woodman’s picture, creating a sense of another dimension. The pictures being black and white causes us to focus more on the person themselves, adding to the mysterious feeling surrounding both photos. Moreover, both include quite simple and plain backgrounds, the dark tones apparent in them contrasting with the light complexion of the artists. Cahun’s image is much more flat, being a more traditional self- portrait, with a one dimensional background that simply frames Cahun and makes them stand out. On the other hand, Woodman’s photo is much more three dimensional, the way her body emerges from the darkness on the left side of the photo adding a sense of depth within the photo. The way Woodman utilises her environment (even by simply propping her mirror up against the wall) to capture herself in these weird yet beautiful ways is very inspirational, the way she moves through the environment around her adding a sense of fluidity to the image. Cahun also captures the idea of movement in her image however in a different way, showing two versions of herself in one image, indicating movement.

I believe both pictures have a similar idea behind them, despite Cahun presenting in an androgynous way and Woodman in a much more feminine manner. Both artists appear to be reacting to themselves, Cahun achieving this by layering multiple exposures to appear as though she is talking to herself. The title of the piece ‘Que me veux-tu?‘ meaning ‘What do you want from me?’ creates the idea that the right portrait of Cahun is a dark alter ego (portrayed by the pure black eyes) which is harassing the ‘real’ Claude Cahun, who’s face is painted with subtle panic and confusion. I think there is a powerful message within this picture since it highlights the idea of every person having some sort evil inside of them, or even intrusive thoughts, which can twist your views and opinions. On the other hand, Woodman’s portrait is taken at a higher and wider angle, allowing to see her bare body as it crawls towards the mirror. Woodman composed the image so that her face was only seen in the reflection, and her ‘real’ face being faced away from the camera. This forces the audience to trust the mirrors reflection as being the real thing which contrasts with the title, ‘Self-deceit‘ which implies the mirror isn’t completely truthful. Furthermore, the artist is alone and naked in the picture which creates a sense of vulnerability and perhaps indicating how she uses the mirror as comfort. Both images have a sense of discomfort within them, portrayed by the artists’ expressions and general appearance. Despite the difference in age gap (Cahun being 34 in the picture and Woodman being 19) they clearly have a deep understanding of themselves which I find very inspiring.