What I want to explore:

Within my personal study, my main themes are femininity and youth. I want to explore these themes because feminism is a movement to put an end to sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression and to achieve full gender equality in law and in practice. I feel passionately about the role of women and how society has shaped stereotypes surrounding them, as well as looking into how women have overcome these stereotypes since the 1950s, which links to the ‘Challenge’ element within the project. In addition, I chose youth as one of my main themes because youthhood is the time in our lives that teaches us how to make decisions and start making reasonable choices. This is an element that I relate to as I am currently in my teenage years and learning how to make important decisions for my future, therefore this topic is something I can apply my own experiences to which will give my work a more realistic approach. From my artist inspiration I gathered that Kurland depicts a dream landscape, and a world where even imaginations of resistance are misshapen by white supremacy. These two themes also link to women stereotypes and gender roles, which are two other specific topics I will be diving into. The main issue I will be researching is women stereotypes, where I have looked at Cindy Sherman as well as Justine Kurland. Sherman is a photographer who probed the construction of identity, playing with the visual and cultural codes of art, celebrity and gender. I took inspiration from these two artists specifically because I feel that they take their own unique approach to the social issues and portray their work in contrasting ways.

Why it matters to me:

“Your identity plays an important role in how you treat others and how you carry yourself in the world.”

This quote highlights the importance of everybody finding their own identity and how they want to portray themselves to the world. I believe this is significant because it is part of the message I want to present, encouraging young girls around my age to express their true identity. Moreover, identity is becoming a more spoken-about topic in my generation, where we have become more accepting of people collectively. This photoshoot matters to me because it obtains the theme of youth and gender. This is because youth is a inevitable element of reaching adulthood and everyone’s is unique. As well, I am able to include elements that are more specific to girls rather than girls and boys, as males and females grow up very differently from each other. I want to incorporate these ideas into my photoshoot so I can take my own approach to these themes. By including these ideas into my photoshoot, I will be able to relate to the ‘Girl Pictures’ book through my own experiences through growing up as a girl and using models that are of a similar age to the young girls in the book. This way I am using my artist inspirations effectively but making it more personal to me.

How I wish to develop my project:

I wish to develop my project by including similar elements as my two artists; such as taking photos outdoors with a natural background, or focusing on presenting gender roles through photographing young women showing stereotypes, for example in a kitchen. This way I will be able to portray similar outcomes to Kurland as she focuses on taking images of young girls who have ran away from home and are living outdoors. I feel that I can recreate this successfully by going to St Catherine’s woods and placing my models in different locations of the woods, often holding objects that represent girlhood such as a hairbrush. I am also able to relate to Sherman by photographing girls portraying female stereotypes because that was what she focused on. For example, I will use the ‘female gaze’ in my images as it adds a sexualized and objectifying effect into my images which shows the representation of women in the 50s. Sherman focuses on “Deconstructing a woman” as her photos are often interpreted as feminist art, since her works raise questions regarding the objectification of women by the male gaze and the construction of the female gender.

Which form I wish to present my study as:

I wish to present my study in a photobook, as I feel that this will best represent the structure and messages behind my photoshoots. For example, at the beginning of my photobook will be my Cindy Sherman inspired photoshoot, as these images highlight the stereotypes of women in the 1950s. This way, I will be able to present my photos in a chronological order, which makes it easy to understand yet also interesting for the viewer as they will get to see how women have changed and adapted to the gender roles of women. My aim is to make my images seamlessly blend together by taking my photoshoots in similar locations. Then my photobook will begin to incorporate Kurland’s images, as hers were based between 1997 and 2002. Sherman’s photographs were taken when coloured photographs did not exist, therefore I will include black and white images throughout my photobook to keep my inspiration surfaced. Contrastingly, Kurland’s photos are all in colour, which gives an overall more modern aesthetic. I will also include these but mostly towards the end of my photobook so the chronological order of them is displayed. Additionally, I may include pages where I show a typology of images on one page, this way it is easy for the viewer to see the similarities and differences between the two artists and what they aim to present in their work.

Where and when I intend to begin my study:

I intend to begin my study with lots of images inspired by Sherman, including black and white images to show the time they were taken. I will take my first photoshoot inside, only using one model. My main location will be in a kitchen where I will have my model portraying typical women stereotypes in the 50s, yet I will take inspiration from Justine Kurland too so the images throughout the book can merge together. For example, I will dress my model in clothing from the 50s but I will put some of my images in colour too. In addition, in my second shoot I will photograph in outdoor settings. This is because it will successfully show the theme of youth which I am trying to present through my work. In my childhood, I spent a lot of time outdoors in places such as; different beaches, specifically St Brelade’s bay, Millbrook park, FB fields etc. I want to include some of these outdoor settings in my photoshoots so I can relate my images to Justine Kurland and execute similar outdoors.