Girl Pictures-Justine Kurland … describe the story it is communicating with reference to subject-matter, genre and approach to image-making.
Subject matter: The subject/ topic of this book is femininity this is referenced by firstly the colour of the book being a light pink which is usually considered a representation of femininity. All the pictures are of girls outside exploring in quite excluded places, surrounded by flowers connotating femininity.
Genre: The genre/ theme explored in this photobook is to show girls becoming ‘rebellious’ and ‘running away’… the book documents them in different excluded scenes . A repeated theme throughout the images is it gives the sense that they are lonely but together trying to survive as girls. Some pictures show them building shelters with resource’s around them.
Approach to image making: Justine’s images are presented as candid but are obviously staged as they are seen all lying down or in specific positions to create specific affects. However it could be argued that some of her images are candid which id assume some are as there are so many and in order for them to flow throughout the book and link there would need to be candid photos.
You must add images of the book and page spreads as illustrations. Also more details where you are looking at:
Book in hand: how does it feel? Smell, sniff the paper.
Paper and ink: use of different paper/ textures/ colour or B&W or both.
Format, size and orientation: portraiture/ landscape/ square/ A5, A4, A3 / number of pages.
Binding, soft/hard cover. image wrap/dust jacket. saddle stitch/swiss binding/ Japanese stab-binding/ leperello
Cover: linen/ card. graphic/ printed image. embossed/ debossed. letterpress/ silkscreen/hot-stamping.
Title: literal or poetic / relevant or intriguing.
Narrative: what is the story/ subject-matter. How is it told?
Structure and architecture: how design/ repeating motifs/ or specific features develops a concept or construct a narrative.
Design and layout: image size on pages/ single page, double-spread/ images/ grid, fold- outs/ inserts.
Editing and sequencing: selection of images/ juxtaposition of photographs/ editing process.
Images and text: are they linked? Introduction/ essay/ statement by artists or others. Use of captions (if any.)
UNDERSTANDING PHOTOBOOKS: