My photoshoot was inspired by Justine Kurland and Sian Davey, we tried to base some of our photos off of their work. The composition and settings of our images were aimed to look like the artists.
Sian daveys – My image
I liked the idea of the social setting in this image of Daveys’ work. It looks natural, people casually socialising, I used my friends to recreate this idea.
Justine Kurland- My image
Justine Kurland likes to demonstrate the strong relationship in womanhood. This particular image shows it perfectly, with the two girls huddled together. I had the idea to do something similar, with two of my friends platting each others hair.
Justine Kurland- My image
We successfully planned the photoshoot and carried it out late afternoon, this created the natural lighting that Kurland and Daveys have in their images.
Sian Davey- My image
Sian Davey shoots in film, so she gets this quality in her images, with a warm tone over them. I was unable to do this as I was shooting on a digital camera, however I experimented with editing my images to make them look more cloudy and dainty.
Justine Kurland- My image
My image on the right was not staged however it naturally resembled Kurland’s image on the left. The setting of the image and the layout of me and my friends reflects it a lot
I used Artsteps to create a virtual gallery of my images to see them presented from a different perspective. I placed them in the group of the shoots I did from studio lighting, long exposure and feminism.
About: Cindy Sherman, also known as Cynthia Morris Sherman, was born on January 19, 1954 in New Jersey, U.S.A. She is an American photographer who is commonly known for her elaborately disguised self-portraits that comment on social role-playing and sexual stereotypes regarding women.
Photo analysis:
– Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Still #58, 1980.
This first image depicts a young woman standing outside what looks to be an office building. In my opinion the image represents a change in the concept of femininity. The woman’s hair is short, which would compare to the typically long hair women use to have, in order to make them appear more feminine. Her clothes appear to be smart casual, which ties in with the office looking building behind her, signifying that she could be applying for a job, which is something many women did not previously have. She has a look of determination on her face too, implying that she’s prepared for a new change. Overall, all these small details could potentially add up to make a compelling story about change and challenges with reforming the idea of femininity.
– Cindy Sherman, Untitled #582, 2016.
This image depicts a posh looking women, surrounded by flowers and luxuries. Femininity is often associated with nature, so the flowers surrounding her create a strong link back to the topic. As for her attire, her red lipstick, crown and beaded jewellery were all symbols of higher class women. This shows the viewer the societal standards that were presented to women during these times, meaning that women were always reaching to look like, have or be like the ideal women. Lastly, the empty wine glass in her hand is another link to the aristocracy of this time era as only posh or noble families would be able to afford such luxuries.
Shannon O’Donnell
About: Shannon is an artist and photographer. They studied BA Documentary Photography at USW Cardiff. Through a combination of documentary and performative approach, their practice explores the gendered experience, both personal and within contemporary and historical capitalist Britain. Their practice is informed by photographs, text, audio, moving stills and archival research. They created a short blog on the topic of femininity named ‘shrinking violet’.
photo analysis:
This image represents how most women use to have to act. We can see the hoover, symbolizing the fact that women had to take care of the house hold, as well as the drying rack behind her. The view into the kitchen also symbolizes the fact that women were expected to cook for their families or husbands. The way Shannon is dressed also holds significance, since women had to look their best at all times for their husbands, even whilst doing chores to manage the household. The stance they take in the image also represents a type of struggle to manage all of the tasks, as it looks as though they are trying to balance themselves.
In this picture, we are able to see that they are wearing heels in a kitchen. This is important as it signifies that cooking is a role that was expected of women, this was their one of their purposes within the family. The reflection of their legs in the oven also helps to solidify this view point. The black and white color scheme of the image makes the viewer believe that the image is suppose to be set further back in time, this also links back to the topic of women and their roles.
Masculinity artists
Sam Contis
about: Sam Contis is an American photographer, he was born in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania in 1982 and now currently lives in California. Her work has been exhibited widely, including at the Barbican Centre, London; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Carré d’Art, Nîmes; and MoMA, New York. She is the recipient of a 2022 Guggenheim Fellowship and the author of Deep Springs (2017) and Day Sleeper (2020). Google Books
photo analysis:
This image represents masculinity due to the position the man is sitting in as well as the boxy lighting. Rough shapes like squares or rectangles are often associated with masculinity as opposed to softer shapes like circles which are more often associated with femininity. The black and white colours are also harsher which could be linked to masculinity due to it being stereotyped as rough or dominant.
In this photo, the hands appear rough showing that the person is hard working, this trait is often associated with masculinity. Once again the harsher contrast between the black and white tones of the image could link back to masculinity.
WHY CHOOSE THE SUBJECT ‘FEMININITY’ FOR THE IDENTITY PROJECT?
I chose to take my final pictures inspired by Justine Kurland’s ‘Girl Pictures’ and femininity. The binary opposition of stereotypical feminine and masculine has become a topic that everyone has different views on. My intention was to show the stereotypical view of women; as delicate, soft and living in a world of utopia. However even that stereotypes are changing globally, their is still the dominant ideology of how women should behave and what values they should hold.
HOW DID I PLAN THIS PROJECT?
To be able to do the photoshoot in the style of Kurland I needed to plan a day in which the weather was going to be bright and cloudless. I took pictures of teenage girls to fit with the stereotypical view in how ‘teenage girls’ should ‘behave’. The main focus in this shoot is reinforce this idea that stereotypes need to be broken, and perhaps what is shown on exterior is not necessarily what the truth is interiorly.
PHOTOSHOOT AND EDITING:
I took these pictures at Howard Davis Park. This is due to the fact is having aesthetic scenery which shows similarity in Kurland’s work, furthermore the flowers are usually connotation of feminine, delicate, and joyfulness. My final images had a soft tone, but bright where you could see all the colours within the frame. Even though most of the colours were muted, there were occasionally a hint of vibrant colours coming through. During my editing process in Lightroom Classic I slightly turned down the exposure to create this sharp detailed image, however I increased the highlights and the colours in order to create a more colourful, and light image.
WHAT WENT WRONG IN THIS PROJECT?
During this identity project it was difficult to find people comfortable in the camera and able to take the photoshoot on the same day. However taking more images in different locations would give a variety of images to choose from, perhaps even different colour clothing. Furthermore a way to improve my project would be to take the same photoshoot but weaken the stereotype but presenting women in a masculine manner; wearing ‘masculine’ clothes, and doing actives that are not suitable for women but also seen as more ‘masculine’.
FINAL DIGITAL PIECES:
I am planning on creating this triptych using the images I took in the photography studio with Phoebe. These pictures are from the same shoot which links them together, however the different colours created variety, yet due to a similar colour palettes they are able to collaborate nicely.
The Landscape image will be printed A3 whereas the other one will be printed A5. I will mount them both on foam board and then mount them on white cardboard.
EVALUATION OF WHOLE LANDSCAPE PROJECT:
Reflecting on my Portraiture unit I believe there are some improvements made from my landscape project. My blog posts have remained consistent however they have improved by adding more context and adding theory when necessary. My blog posts have continued to include hyperlinks and images that are relevant to post. Planning my photoshoots has become easier however most have been taken in the Hautlieu photography studio, in which it is easily accessible. Taking images for Environmental Portraiture was the most challenging part in this project, as many people did not like having their face in front of a camera which created issues for my photoshoot and therefore not many images were taking. However for my identity feminine photoshoot I was easily able to plan and take my photoshoot. This project I was more organised then the Landscape project which created a more relaxed environment in which I felt comfortable working in. Nevertheless when sending my picture to be printed professionally I sent less then I thought which resulted in less analogue pieces. In my next project I will created more images and organise myself so I will finish with more images I will be able to print and create more analogue pieces.
“Political identities refer to identification with and meaning attributed to membership in politically relevant groups, including political parties and national, ethnic, linguistic, or gender groups” – Huddy (2013)
The term ‘identity politics’ is typically coined as a political movement in Western societies. According to many who deem themselves as advocates of identity politics, it centres the experiences of those facing systemic oppression; the purpose is to better understand the result of racial, economic, and gender-based oppression (and others) and to ensure no one group is wrongly affected by political actions.
Identity politics emerged out of the Black civil rights movement in the 60s, it questioned the state of the political world at the time and looked to helping underprivileged groups that had experienced oppression in their lifetime.
“It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.
– Audre Lorde
CULTURE WAR
Culture wars is disagreements about cultural and social beliefs between groups, especially between people with more conservative conservative opinions and people with more progressive opinions and the struggle for dominance of their values, beliefs, and practices.
These conflicts can help bring light to issues that need addressing but can cause heated debates and social diversions.
Jeff wall is a Canadian artist born 29 September 1946 he’s best known for his large scale backlit Cibachrome photographs he has a masters of arts from the university of British Colombia walls photos are strange but very good they have you wondering why he took the photo at first glance you would think the photo has no meaning or it was taken for no reason.
WHAT – I want to take long exposure portraits (similar to below), I think this a great way of showing off identity and femininity vs masculinity as the blurring represents how interchangeable and fluid they can be. The movement can also reflect how people grow and change while exploring their identity. I also like how the persons emotions can still be read so that I can experiment with the different emotions people may feel during the weird and confusing time identifying themselves. However, there could be some photos where it is harder to see the face which could symbolise hiding your identity.
WHERE – The photoshoot will be in the school studio
HOW – I will increase the shutter speed so that while the photo is being taken, more light will be in the photo which creates the movement lines.
