About Francesca Woodman

She was an American photographer who created black and white pictures, mostly capturing herself and other female models in interesting ways. Her photos show herself and other women either in unique outfits or stark naked, in weird positions. The photos mostly appeared to be blurred, since she used a slow shutter speed, letting more light in to create movement in a eerie way throughout her work. She was born on April the 3rd in 1958 and died on the 19th of January in 1981, aged just 22 years old. Despite her dying so young, Woodman has continued to inspire many upcoming photographers, being an icon of self- expression in photography.

She took her first self portrait at the age of 13, and then went on to continue to photograph herself and other women until she died. She attended the Rhode Island School of Design and travelled to Rome as part of its honours program in 1977. In 1980, she shared many of her portfolios with fashion photographs, wanting ‘to make a career in photography’. She was rejected, however, which lead to her becoming deeply depressed and she attempted suicide in autumn of that same year. A breakup with her boyfriend also added to her depressed state. This lead to her having to live with her parents, unfortunately in early 1981, she took her life after jumping out of a window.

Although Woodman used different cameras and film formats during her career, most of her photographs were taken with medium format cameras producing 6×6 cm square negatives. Woodman created at least 10,000 negatives, which her parents now keep. Woodman’s estate, which is managed by Woodman’s parents, consists of over 800 prints, of which only around 120 images had been published or exhibited as of 2006. Most of Woodman’s prints are 8 by 10 inches (20 by 25 cm) or smaller, which “works to produce an intimate experience between viewer and photograph”.

“Am I in the picture? Am I getting in or out of it? I could be a ghost, an animal or a dead body, not just this girl standing on the corner” 

– Francesca Woodman

The ‘Die Young’ Effect

There are always celebrities and other artists that die young, which for some reason always leads to more questions about their short life. Suicide has always been seen as a taboo aspect of our life, but something that draws fascination and interest from the public, especially when it is a famous or talented person. Like many others, Woodman died young and left behind her interesting story along with her unique art. Her photographs were almost like a representation of her short life, the ghostly obscured and intimate photos clearly being a portrayal of her and her personality. Her portraits portrayed her as vulnerable and isolated, but also intense and powerful, creating a interesting contrast.

Hysteria

In relation to hysteria, her work is something that embodies the idea of being hysterical. Hysteria makes one feel unnerved, so i think the way her photos are both unnervering and disturbing is an effective way of showing the things she felt inside. Although a lot of progress had been made since the development of the idea of hysteria, the late 20th century still promoted many stereotypes of women. Perhaps, Woodman didn’t feel truly supported with her mental illness, so her photography was her way of expressing herself and her feelings.

Nudity

Another significant aspect of Woodman’s work is her nude portraits. I think it is important to note the lack of provocativeness in her images, despite her being completely nude in many of her pieces. There is nothing sexual about her art if you truly understand her work- it was her way of showing her true self, without any filters, any clothes- a way of claiming her freedom and control over her own body and mind.

Her Work

Here are some famous examples of her work, where she portrayed herself in many different positions and angles. Every single photo is unique and full of mystery, causing her style to be an inspiration for many. She challenged the idea that the camera captures a single time and space – something that had always been seen as one of the fundamentals of photography. She manipulated light, movement and photographic effects, and used carefully selected props, vintage clothing and decaying interiors to add a mysterious gothic atmosphere to the work and create a new technique of portrait photography. The concept of vulnerability is brought up a lot my critics, and although I do understand that her poses create a sense of vulnerability, her pictures embrace her, a lot of the time naked, body in a powerful manner, showing she is the one in control.

Image Analysis

One of her most iconic photographs, portraying her in a bent over position on top of a mirror, capturing her staring intensely into the camera lens. It is believed that it was a photo she sent to her boyfriend at the time, sending it in advance to her return to the US from Italy.

This photographs composition is very interesting, being taken from a bird eye view angle, capturing her entire body in the shot. The entire look of the photo creates a mysterious mood throughout the image; the black and white causing us to focus more on her face which appears blurry as through she was moving. This along with the wild look in her eyes creates her to have an unhinged appearance, adding to the eeriness of the photo and also her embodying her mental illness. She appears to be naked on the lower half of her body, adding to the weird look of the photo and creating another interesting aspect to the photo, perhaps being something to do with the photo being meant for her boyfriend, Woodman portraying herself in a seductive way and enhancing the sexual representation within the photo, but at the same time lacking in provocativeness, despite being naked. Despite her face not being in focus, it is clearly the area of focus within the photograph, her neutral expression contrasting with her wide- open eyes, causing the viewer to immediately look at them. The mirror creates an interesting shape around her, framing her body and causing us to focus on her even more. Moreover, the dark tone of the wood contrasts again her light skin and clothes, causing her to stand out even more. The mirror creates an idea of other dimension, and her face being blurred creates a sense of timelessness.

Link with the topic

I think Woodman’s work is a perfect embodiment of the theme, as her pictures cause the viewer to observe the way her photos are a portrayal of her emotions and seek the true meaning behind each peace. Her work challenges many societal views, the nude and exposed aspect of her photographs being looked down upon, especially in the 20th century. It also challenges the norms about femininity and mental illness, as she incoorperates both in a beautiful manner, when the two things are typically never seen together.

Hysteria

The name ‘hysteria’ is derived from the Greek words ‘hystera’ which means ‘uterus’ as well as  ‘hysterikos’ meaning ‘suffering of the womb.’

Greek thinkers (like Hippocrates and Plato) believed that when a woman experienced delirium, excessive emotion, and lack of self-control, it was due to her uterus moving freely throughout her body and thus having negative effects on her mental wellbeing. Plato believed that when the womb was empty for too long after puberty, it became distressed and disturbed and started to move around the body out of irritation. This gave the impression that women should be quick to occupy the womb – they were told that they needed to be getting married and carrying babies to anchor the womb, explaining why women were expected to fall pregnant at such a young age. The threat of sexual deprivation and barrenness sending women crazy spurred the myth of the wandering womb, solidifying women’s position as being strictly child-bearers. It also solidified excessive emotion as a feminine emotional condition, and caused women to become the ’emotional gender’. 

On the other hand, male hysteria, as the name indicates, is ‘hysteria for men’. Interestingly, symptoms included extreme behaviour, uncertainty in actions and motives, inclination to substances, for example, alcohol, and neurosis. The ‘disease’ was closely linked to gender stereotypes when men failed to act ‘like men were expected to act’, another feature of the patriarchal and misogynistic views that promoted hysteria.

Link to Project

My project is about feminity and mental illness, so I believe hysteria is a topic that links in perfectly with both. I want my photographs to show hysteria, showing it in a stereotypical and disturbing manner, utilising a slow shutter speed of 1/4 or 1/5 to create movement within the images, portraying hysteria as something that can’t be controlled. My inspiration, Francesca Woodman, was an individual who showed her struggles with mental health through her work. I think her work was an indirect portrayal of hysteria, all her photos having an unnerving feeling to them.

Hysteria’s dual nature makes it a perfect example of both oppression and liberation: although hysteria in itself is a symptom of patriarchal pressures, hysterical symptoms are also an implication of an individual’s increased awareness of patriarchy. This is a theme I want to portray through my photographs.

For my project, I want to explore femininity and mental health, through a mix of portraits and landscapes. Photography has often been an exploration of ones mental health, and many artists have linked the two important aspects of the life resulting in powerful photographs. Many use photography as a coping mechanism, helping them face their everyday issues. Femininity is something every individual explores during their life, sometimes without noticing it. I think femininity and mental health has a big link since women are stereotyped as being weak and vulnerable by society. For instance, hysteria was attributed to women for thousands of years: even being derived from the Greek word ‘hystera’ which means uterus. Even major psychologists such as Freud considered hysteria as an exclusively female disease, despite it already being proven incorrect. It was originally believed that men could not suffer from hysteria because of their lack of uterus. This belief was discarded in the 17th century when discourse identified the brain or mind, and not reproductive organs, as the root cause of hysteria. I think hysteria would be interesting to explore through self- portraits and landscapes (for example of St. Saviour’s hospital; the abandoned Jersey Lunatic Asylum and other abandoned buildings) as it incorporates mental health and femininity well. I think it links in well with the exam theme’s OBSERVE, SEEK, CHALLENGE since it will be an exploration of a significant historical aspect of femininity, I could observe how hysteria is portrayed and seek to find out how to portray it myself. I want to challenge the stereotypes of mental illness and femininity, as well as the historical relevance of hysteria, and challenge ‘typical’ feminine photography.

True femininity is about emotions and feelings, not just the appearance of an individual. For me, these themes are an opportunity to discover and research femininity, feminism and mental health, and create my own response to it, questioning different point of views and other artists’ work. Moreover, mental health is a big aspect of every woman’s life, and I think it is important to explore this, whether through photography or another medium. The most significant and important (in my opinion) female photographer who explored femininity and mental health is Francesca Woodman, who captured black and white self portraits, expressing her emotions which she couldn’t put into words. She was very young when she passed, and I believe this makes her work even more powerful and personal. She is my main inspiration for this project, and I find her use of abandoned- looking backdrops, slow shutter speed, uncoloured images very effective in portraying her emotions.

I want this project to end in the creation of a photobook- since I think it would tie my project in well together, creating a sequence of abstract portraits which focus more on emotion and the metaphors of femininity instead of striking feminine photos. After her death in 1981, Woodman’s photos weren’t disclosed to the public for many years after. I think the lack of uniformity in her work adds to the overall theme of mental health, but I believe my work will look most successful as a photobook. I will begin my study by researching hysteria and using Woodman as a inspiration for my photoshoots, looking for places around Jersey that would be suitable for my project. I like how Woodman also uses props (whether it is the space around her or specific objects) in ways that adds a even deeper mood to each photograph, as well as making each image unique.

Observe, Seek and Challenge

Exam Paper- Pages 4 & 5

I highlighted quotes I believe are significant as well as adding my own notes about the ideas I have for my project. One of the quotes: ‘the human desire to seek and explore the unknown’ was in my eyes a perfect portrayal of the topic- since I would like my project to be a exploration of something that is different to my everyday life. Moreover, ‘the diversity, complexity and geometry of nature’ I found was also interesting, as it puts into perspective the many different layers of nature photography. Another quote ‘Artists frequently use metaphors in their work to disguise the messages; some are blatant some are obscure’, implies how the use of metaphors and indirectness is important in photography, since it what causes each project to be individual. The theme description also outlined many points of interest, such as nature, society and landscapes, which proved to be useful when developing my own ideas.

I thought of three main ideas for my project: stereotypes (specifically surrounding gender), abandoned (historical) locations and animals (specifically cats).

Stereotypes are one of the biggest flaws our are society and I think it would be interesting to create a project that challenges gender stereotypes and seeks out why and how they are created. I could take self portraits for this project- linking my work with artists such as Claude Cahun and Francesca Woodman. I would also link this with places- abandoned as Woodman tends to use as her background. I could create portraits as well as landscapes- the abandoned Jersey Lunatic Asylum being a place I could focus on. Woodman focused on femininity as well as mental health, which could be something I could explore. I would use a slow a shutter speed to create blurry and multiple exposure photographs, in Woodman’s style.

Next, Jersey is a island with many different interesting places, that are very significant in relation to it’s history. It would be interesting to develop a project that investigates such places (like the war tunnels, the abandoned Jersey Lunatic Asylum in St. Saviour, etc.) and challenge why their existence- why they were created but also closed, left, abandoned). A photographer which would inspire me for this theme is Matt Ememett- his portfolio Forgotten Heritage Photography being pictures of abandoned places- capturing their diverse beauty.

Lastly, my final idea would be about animals; their day to day survival, our impact on them. I would like to capture detailed, micro photographs of them that captures their beauty and the complexity of their life. A more specific idea would be to focus on cats (found around Jersey) and it would focus on how they view our world/ their point of view, how they observe, seek and challenge the world. I could include photographs of cats themselves as well as landscapes from low angles, exploring how cats physically see our island. I could create dreamy, detailed images- romanticising their life or I could take harsh images- perhaps in black and white, capturing the reality of their lives. Walter George Chandoha is a inspiration as throughout his career he photographed cats over and over again, capturing beautiful pictures of the animals. Jo Stephen takes beautiful, dreamlike landscape photos and he could be my inspiration for the style of my photographs. Another photographer, Ekin Küçük, created a project called Cat Fever which captures black and white pictures of cats in their natural environment (the streets of a busy city), capturing the harsh reality of cat’s lives.

Mind Maps

Moodboards