I made virtual galleries of each theme in portraiture using Photoshop.

Femininity vs Masculinity:

Environmental portraiture:

Headshots:

(Using Artsteps)

MY EVALUATION & CRITIQUE:

Overall, I really enjoyed portraiture however my favourite has been femininity vs masculinity as I had a lot of ideas on how to be creative and experiment further which I feel I achieved. I really enjoyed researching identity politics and culture wars because I found a lot of information for context and it helped me come up with ideas of how to represent gender in society which is really important. I think that my images in this theme produced well as I was able to not only represent modern stereotypes but also show gender fluidity through the inspiration of my artist references. I like the way I have used coloured and monotone images in my work because both of my artists tend to use black & white yet I still wanted to add vibrancy to my work to make it more personal to me which meant that I wasn’t just using one or the other. I think that my intentions for the photoshoots are clear in my final images because it is clear what I was trying to create and they distinctly correlate with my Francesca Woodman, Shannon O’Donnell and Cindy Sherman. My work relates to Francesca Woodman as I have created a motion blur that covers the subject’s face using a slow shutter speed that creates the same mysterious look. Shannon O’Donnell’s – That’s Not The Way The River Flows– has been represented in my work through the images of my subjects hands and body with feminine and masculine characteristics also produced in black and white. I also think my work relates to Cindy Sherman’s work as she represented different stereotypes of women in the 1950s/1960s whilst I have represented the modern stereotypes of young girls and women. However, I feel that I should use a further analysis into my artist references’ work in the technical area because it would show a greater understanding of how they have managed to create the image as this will help me to produce similar and related images, as I will know how to do it.

The two artists that interested me especially in Masculinity & Femininity are Francesca Woodman and Shannon O’Donnell. I found them both extremely interesting people, however I think the reason why I like these artists is because their work is about the fluidity of identity and puts pressure on the stereotypes that are within masculinity and femininity. On the other hand, another artist I looked at was Cindy Sherman who explores these stereotypical roles and views of women which was something else I also wanted to represent.

Shannon O’Donnell

These were inspired by Shannon O’Donnell’s work – That’s Not The Way The River Flows. These are the images I wanted to use:

I put my images into black and white and got my subject into positions similar to O’Donnell’s. Similarly to her, I wanted to conceal the gender identity of my subject so I incorporated different parts of masculine and feminine stereotypical characteristics. For example, the first image is of a hand with an oversized plaid blazer yet the subject has long nails. In the second, my subject is dressed with large masculine shoes and a tie however they are also wearing jewellery with long nails. One hand has painted nails however the other is unpainted with a watch. In the last, I wanted to incorporate a more feminine aspect, so using the blazer to keep a slight sense of traditional masculinity, the subjects hand rests on a group of flowers with painted nails and a ring.

Comparisons and contrasts:

I think that these three images from my photoshoot shows a clear correlation to Shannon O’Donnell’s work because it joins the stereotypes of men and women onto one person which hides their gender identity. This shows how these masculine and feminine attributes can apply to anyone regardless of gender. As well as this, I feel that the images I produced look very similar to hers because they zoom in on certain areas of the body instead of an entire person.

In Shannon O’Donnell’s work she tends to use a plain one-toned background. In my first image I tried to replicate this however in the second one there is objects in the background such as a table, partially some flowers and the floor which adds more context for the viewer e.g. it is a home environment. Also, in the third image I have used some flowers coming up from the bottom left as I felt that this adds a more intricate design behind the image alongside a feminine touch.

Francesca Woodman:

I inspired a photoshoot by Francesca Woodman’s series of self-portraits. This was my favourite image:

For this image I used a slow shutter speed to recreate that effect on the head that Francesca Woodman used in her work so that it gives the viewer a sense of displacement. This applies well in gender identity as this can represent the struggles of growing up in a strongly gendered society. I put the image into black and white, not only from inspiration from both my artists but because I feel the light background causes the viewer to become drawn to the subject as she is dressed in darker clothes.

Comparisons and contrasts:

I think that this image shows a clear correlation with Woodman’s work because of my use of a slow shutter speed as that is what she does by turning away to the left.

In her work she tends to completely conceal the face from the camera with motion blur however, whilst I have captured this in my image, I have still managed to capture my subject’s eyes looking through. If I had turned down the shutter speed even more I would’ve gotten the same outcome, but I really like the way this gives a ghostly feel to the image, making it mysterious and unnerving. Although there is a plain background in my image, I feel that this hidden stare makes up for it as it adds that unnerving feel that Francesca Woodman’s backgrounds give.

Cindy Sherman:

My images:

Comparisons and contrasts:

Cindy Sherman in her work of ‘Untitled Film Stills’ acted in different personas of stereotypical women in the 1950s/1960s. However, in my work I have tried to represent the stereotypes of women in the modern day and the culture around it, especially with teenage girls instead of the traditional roles. In the 1950s and 1960s women were seen to be housewives however in the society we have now, the idea is that women are infatuated with how they look and become overly obsessed with this.

I am very happy with how my artist references turned out as I feel that they really inspired me.

I manipulated my images with one another in Photoshop after editing in Lightroom.

My concept behind this experiment is a shared societal insecurity of how we all never feel that we are beautiful enough and feel that we cannot be happy with ourselves until everything about us is improved. I wanted to represent how, especially girls, are so eager to grow up however once you have it makes you reminisce on being young and not cherishing it enough. My idea was a woman looking back into her young teenage years, which is why it is in black and white, recalling the memories of her as a young person in a society of beauty standards, trying to ‘improve’ every characteristic about herself. This is representative of how much pressure is put on women in society and how it causes young girls to be infatuated with their looks, when realistically they should be living the best years of their lives.

In this image I wanted to represent how through society’s strict perception of beauty, and how our reflections and opinions on our own looks become warped through the constant attempt to find something else to change.

I made these two images look as if they are shaking to represent the stress, betrayal and drama within the culture of teenage girls.

I took 3 photoshoots for this theme so that I would have a range of ideas to assess.

My images:

For this image I used a slow shutter speed to recreate that effect on the head that Francesca Woodman used in her work so that it gives the viewer a sense of displacement. This applies well in gender identity as this can represent the struggles of growing up in a strongly gendered society. I feel that this also correlates with Shannon O’Donnell’s work because of the hidden identity on the face however I’ve still managed to capture her eyes looking straight at the camera which I feel looks very mysterious and unnerving because you can ever so slightly see them staring. I put the image into black and white, not only from inspiration from both my artists but because I feel the light background causes the viewer to become drawn to the subject as she is dressed in darker clothes.

These three images are inspired by my artist Shannon O’Donnell as she likes to disclose the subjects identity and mix up the modern perspective on femininity vs masculinity.

In these two images, one subject sat in front of the other to catch their reflection whilst capturing an image of the second subject too. I played with the tone in both images with the first one, a more dramatic pose, has a contrasting warm pinkish tone to it however the cheerful image has a more cool tone to it.

I chose this image as I feel like this represents the culture of teenage girls in school as this stage in their life is filled with drama and arguments with friends. I sat the two subjects alongside one another, the girl on the right looking really devastated while on the left she is holding a knife with a smile, as if she is ‘stabbing her in the back’ through betrayal.

For this image I place feminine objects in front of the mirror such as makeup, perfume and a hairbrush to the right of the subject as if she is getting ready. This heavily represents stereotypes around women because it shows the way that women pamper themselves with products of this sort and how when growing up this is the ideology around teenage girls only caring about growing up too fast. This would generally be the image of a magazine cover for women, in which young girls would see and usually compare themselves due to the unattainable beauty standards for women in fashion.

In this image I put the light behind me to catch my subjects face in the mirror which gave the image Chiaroscuro lighting. I like the way it has made the background dark and lit up one side of her face through her reflection because it means that her face is the only thing you can relatively look at. The way the girl looks into the mirror represents the idea in society that girls/women are overly obsessed with their image.

Again in this image the light was directly behind me to give a visible reflection into the mirror and a dark background behind the subject so the focus is entirely on the face. However, instead of there being a strong Chiaroscuro aspect to this image I used the snout light with a pink-coloured gel alongside the flash-head and I have raised it to a warmer tone so the outcome has turned a vibrant pink. There is a strong theme of femininity throughout this image alongside that due to the nails, lipgloss and lashes. I feel the use of the mirror has helped reinforce the stereotypical idea of young women being overly obsessed with their looks and presentation throughout the image.

I’ve chosen this image as she is showing real emotion with the tears just under her eyes which is relative to the stereotypical views of women being that they are emotional. My subject sat just off-centre towards the left wearing black as I feel that the monotone jumper and background reflects the mood of the image, making the viewer focus on how this image brings an element of sadness to the viewer and makes them feel it too as she is looking straight into the camera.

Shannon O’Donnell is another photographer who I would like to incorporate into my work as an inspiration because her work is very moving and attempts to grasp an understanding of the way gender can be represented in a fast-growing society.

Shannon O’Donnell:

Shannon O’Donnell is a contemporary artist, photographer and short filmmaker currently living in Jersey Channel Islands. Her work is documentary yet performative which explores a gendered experience which focuses on the characteristics and traits of femininity and masculinity. The outcomes she produces challenges the traditional stereotypes placed on women and men in a sociological way, attempting to gage an understanding on how gender is seen in general society. Her work that particularly stands out to me is That’s Not The Way The River Flows (2019).

That’s Not The Way The River Flows (2019) is a collection of images that playfully explores the themes of masculinity and femininity through a series of self-portraits. However, this (similar to Cindy Shermans work Untitled Film Stills) comes from selections of stills from moving scenes of her masquerading as different personas however she opens up to a multitude of different sub-categories of gender differentiating from male or female: non-binary, transgender and gender fluidity. By doing so, this unpicks the traditional conforming narrative of gender causing the viewers to re-imagine our society and understand what makes us who we are and how we identify. This project gives another insight into how the photographer may have conflicting thoughts on her own identity and gender experiences. This project is fundamental to a growing and fast-changing society because it helps people (especially those who find it harder to comprehend) see the struggles and hardships that many people during the exploration and acceptance of themselves, revealing the pressures, stereotypes and difficulties that they face whilst growing up in a strongly gendered society.

That’s Not The Way The River Flows (2019) is from a short film, described as a moving visual poem demonstrating the claustrophobia of identity in peoples lives and the demanding pressure to ‘fit in’. This piece also pokes fun at the ideals surrounding masculinity and femininity and pushing the boundaries and characteristics that were dictated to these themes.

Image Analysis:

I find this image one of the most powerful of the visual poem series. Initially, the monotone to the image creates drama with a sense of seriousness and professionalism. Due to this, the clothing on the subject has a high contrast from the pale wall behind, with the aspect of blankness throughout the image this means that the detail of the blazer and the material over the face gives the ability to focus on the textures more. The most appealing part of this image for me is the face in this headshot. The greyscale linen looking material draped over the face seems to be pulled back and behind the subjects head, covering the identity and ability to differentiate the gender of this person which highlights one of points of this series; the growing exploration of gender fluidity within society. However, as the material is sheer, the subjects pained expression through the pulling of the material describes the suppression and pressure that people struggling with their gender identity have to face. I also feel the panic in the subjects face shows how terrifying this must be in a society that has strong expectations and set propositions of gender. Alongside that, I feel the headshot represents this theme really well as the closeness of the camera to the subject makes a connection with the viewer which forces them to listen. The way that the subjects face is only partially visible through this material that almost blends into the wall in the background, means that we can infer that this makes people want to hide away their struggles with their gender and attempt to fit in. The focal point of the image is on the subjects face with the shoulders slightly blurred so that the raw emotion of the image really speaks to the viewer too, which means that it educates them on how difficult this matter is in a visual manner. I think the photographers intentions of displaying the claustrophobic pressures of gender identity has been represented really well in this image.

For my photoshoots, my inspirations are going to be photographers who explore the themes of identity, and the binary opposite of femininity and masculinity. Another binary opposite I want to incorporate in my work is empowered vs victim because I feel like this is relative to the stereotypes associated with femininity or masculinity and want to show both sides of it.

Francesca Woodman:

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 created over 800 self-portraits before her untimely death in 1981, just 22 years old. She was a body-orientated feminist who emerged in the art movement during the 1970s. She first documented these images when she was thirteen in 1972, where she is sat on the end of a sofa in an un-identified place wearing an oversized jumper and jeans. Her arm is loosely hanging from the armrest, with her face concealed by her hair and the foreground with a blur to it. I think the oversized jumper is a large part of this image because the body is completely misshaped and unidentifiable, beginning to show how the focus of her images is linked to the body and the obscuring of her own identity by hiding her face.

Public opinion has generally been favourable towards Woodman’s work and continues to be the subject of much positive critical attention, years after her death at the age of 22, in 1981. For example, at the 1998 exhibition in Paris, many people had “strong reactions” to her “interesting” photographs. A number of people have found Woodman’s individual photos (for example “Self-portrait at 13”) or her photography as inspirational. Many critics and historians have commented on how Francesca Woodman’s work was influenced by myths, artistic movements and other photographers. One comment is that her work is inspired by gothic fiction – identifying with gothic heroines of stories where a female figure is made to be in solitude turning her mad, full of angels, mirrors, demons and tombs. However this is just an inference because she studied Surrealism immensely alongside the work of Duane Michals. She did this by following this movement’s tradition of not explaining her work and demonstrated a “desire to crack the code of appearances.” This is why I find her work so intriguing because it’s open to interpretation and can become unique to the viewer as it has the possibility of being more personal.

Her work gives the viewer a feel of displacement, set in rooms that are broken down, old and being wasted away where she tends to blend in with the surroundings. These rooms are typically very sparse with furniture, characterised with old furniture, peeling wallpaper, smashes mirrors or glass and rough surfaces such as lifted tiles off of the floor. In these images, parts of her body are often blurred which causes her to disappear into the background, giving a lack of distinction between self vs world, another binary opposition. Her photographs are often thought-provoking and emotionally powerful, demonstrating the power of photography to capture the essence of a moment and the intangible.

Image Analysis:

Things looked funny because my pictures depend on an emotional state… I know this is true and I thought about this for a long time. Somehow it made me feel very, very good.

Francesca Woodman created a series of images similar to this one where she conceals parts of the body and face, hiding her identity. In these photographs, she reveals the body simultaneously as being there, whilst somehow being absent. By doing this, she dissects the human body by emphasizing isolated parts, hiding and revealing certain sections in each image. This gives a tone of presence and absence all in one image.

The image has been taken at a wide angle to capture the background surrounding her. Towards the left side of the image the wall in the background appears blurred and out of focus as she, being the subject, is the focal point of the image. The image looks slightly under-exposed as it is really dark however there has still been a lot of detail captured sharply such as the pillar in front of her. Using a slow shutter speed to create a motion blur on the upper portion of her body specifically her head symbolises confusion and almost as if she is attempting to get out of her mind.

These images represent her state of mind before she ended her life so the abandoned and run down atmosphere and environment may symbolise how in her mind she felt lost and empty just like these rooms in a sort of slow decaying way. The wallpaper looks incredibly old and we can see as it peels away there is another floral piece behind it. I think this may represent how she felt as if her mind was break down and almost rotting, as she suffered from suicidal thoughts. By putting her images into black and white, I feel that making her work monotone may also symbolize the absence of light/happiness and colour in her life, so by making the image so colourless she accurately shows how empty her life is, especially from the sparse rooms too. This makes a strong contrast. She tends to appear off centre in different creative positions, in this image speeding under a table in a manic way. Wearing a long floral dress alongside some flat black shoes, her hair down and behind her causes her to appear feminine, however the concealing of her face hides her identity which can be interpreted as if she is attempting to blend into the background too to get away from standing out and becoming noticed.

The genre of Surrealism is clear especially in this image because there is no clear story to explain the intentions behind the image, causing the viewer to question the strangeness she has created and add personal narratives to it.

I really like this meaning behind her work because it tells the viewer about herself and evokes emotion in them.

In my work, I am going to attempt to use motion blur on the face whilst the body being in focus because it gives a tone of mystery and disclosed identity which I find really enticing and interesting.

The definition of Femininity:

qualities or attributes regarded as characteristic of women or girls.

“she alternated between embracing her femininity and concealing it”

This can be understood as being a social construct, a characteristic interpreted differently in each culture around the world. Generally speaking, this is associated with women or girls and is used in photography as a form of self-expression of someone’s identity. However, the use of this in magazines for example can create societal expectations such as beauty standards, as these images can present an unrealistic idea of a woman which can be damaging. Traits traditionally cited as feminine include gracefulness, gentleness, empathy and sensitivity, typically very stereotypical expectations of how a woman should behave or act. The term ‘femininity’ has been adapted over decades, for example during more traditional times women were seen to be fragile and loving, to stay home and be maternal. However, this idea is stereotypical and moving forward, women are breaking this boundary that was created.

A good example of femininity photography is Cindy Sherman:

Cindy Sherman is a female photographer who portrays female stereotypes of the 1950’s and 1960’s. When creating her images, she is not only the photographer but the subject too, masquerading as different women in society. Each image creates a high level of suspense, mystery, disguise, melancholy and vulnerability. These stills encapsulate femininity during this era playing on the feminist idea that gender arises exclusively within culture and deconstructs dominant gender ideologies. This is extremely powerful because it represents the underside of the ‘definition of a woman’, breaking a barrier from the idea that a woman or girl should act a certain way in society.

The definition of Masculinity:

qualities or attributes regarded as characteristic of men or boys.

“handsome, muscled, and driven, he’s a prime example of masculinity”

Masculinity is also considered as a social construct, with an altering meaning in different cultures and societies. Traits traditionally viewed as masculine in Western cultures include strength, courage, leadership, power and assertiveness. When women’s labour participation increased instead of having to consistently be maternal, there were men who felt less comfortable in their masculinity because it was increasingly difficult for them to reconfirm their status as the breadwinner, due to the fact that they were no longer the only provider for the family. The concept of masculinity alters through history. For example, in religion or even Greek myths, stories are told of men being powerful gods and heroes, battling to protect their wives, setting the stereotype and expectations for men to be strong and fierce. This led to the idea that men or boys must act a certain way too, for example they were expected to be unemotional or to not cry otherwise this made them weak. However, through time, this idea is slowly being broken down similar to femininity, as while society grows people find more ways to express themselves and try to not fit into set categories of behaviour.

CLAUDE CAHUN:

“one of the most curious spirits of our time.”

Claude Cahun is a perfect example of someone who wanted to push the boundaries of gender roles in a stereotypical society.

Claude Cahun, born Lucy Schwob was a French photographer, sculptor and writer. her most well known work is her surrealist self-portraits in which she represented a multitude of different personas. Moving to Jersey in 1937 with her stepsister and lover, Marcel Moore, she resisted the occupation taking place on our island. During their lives together in Jersey, the women decided to mount an underground resistance campaign following the Nazi’s occupation of the Island in June 1940. The two campaigned against them, provoking them in a risky manner for four years until 1944 when the Gestapo investigated them. Narrowly avoiding a death sentence, the two were freed from prison on the 9th of May 1945 following Jersey’s Liberation. Remaining on the island until 1953, Cahun suffered from ill health which unfortunately resulted her passing in hospital on the 8th of December. After this, Moore continued to live on in Jersey for many more years until sadly ending her own life.

Her life was a representation of resistance, defying the conventional ideas of beauty and femininity with her shaved head and male attire, challenging them. This was almost revolutionary in the 1930’s, being in a same-sex relationship and exploring her identity in a difficult time period of traditional values. Whilst Claude Cahun was alive, she produced many pieces of work which The Jersey Heritage Trust collection represents. Her work challenged the politics of gender and identity, alongside the work of many male Surrealists who depicted women as objects of male desire. She used domestic settings such as a cupboard at home and introduced something interesting and new to this environment, exploring gender fluidity.

For example, in this double exposure image, Cahun is seen with a shaved head in men’s clothing in a monotone way. Her explanation was “Under this mask, another mask; I will never finish removing all these faces.”1 (Claude Cahun, Disavowals, London 2007, p.183)

Claude Cahun’s work is important in society today because it breaks down the idea that females must be feminine or males should be masculine, being a vision of gender fluidity and breaking down the gender roles that were traditionally assigned. This pioneered gender photography.

CLAUDE CAHUNS WORK:

I conducted a photoshoot in the studio using a honeycomb head and snout head on the lights, putting coloured gels in front of them to give me a more dynamic lighting style instead of an ordinary white and yellow-toned light. I played around with different colours, placements and angles of my subject whilst also using a white or gold reflector so that the light would bounce into my subjects eyes as they are the most compelling section of a persons face.

My best images:

My favourite image:

This is my absolute favourite image as I have added in a creative aspect to it. I took the circular coloured gels out of the snout light and chose 3 colours that complimented each other well: red, orange and yellow. I placed them into my subjects hand as she rested it on her face as I felt it would look more natural and genuine. I really like the way this turned out as the shapes aren’t entirely opaque so that her features have still been brought through but in a completely different colour. I put a green gel into the snout light and used a very pale yellow on the honeycomb light as if I used a bolder coloured this would’ve ruined the illusion I was aiming to create. I used a black curtain behind my subject as this meant she was the focal point of the image and made it look more dramatic. I didn’t have to edit this image very much as I shot it quite well.

After this, I opened all of these into Photoshop where I created a Diamond Cameo using inspiration from Henry Mullins. Unlike him, I created mine in a more modern way as the colour in my photos would not work aesthetically with an old-fashioned style background.

Diamond Cameo:

I added shadows around the bottom and highlights at the top as this creates an illusion of it being framed which is what a Diamond Cameo looks like. Instead of filling the background with a block colour, I decided to fill it with a gradient from white to black, reversing the style of the ‘frame’ around the images, I really like the contrast in this. I chose the use monotone colours because I didn’t want to wash out the saturation of my images, using these more bland colours means that my images pop out to the viewer and catch attention a lot more because they look entirely different to the background as they have bright and bold colours. As the background of the images are black too, I feel like it gives a mirror effect as the background is dark too, making the image not only more mysterious but it points out the colourful lighting used and my subject a lot more.

IDENTITY POLITICS: a political approach based on a particular identity, such as; race, nationality, religion, gender, sexual orientation, social background, caste, and social class.

This can be conceptualised being about the presentation and representation of identities. This is founded in the shared experiences of injustice of members of certain social groups, typically aiming for political freedom (at times wishing minority groups) within a society where they are not able to exist freely, attempting to make others understand what it is like for them in a day-to-day life.

The second half of the twentieth century saw the emergence of large-scale political movements—second wave feminism, Black Civil Rights in the U.S., gay and lesbian liberation, and the American Indian movements. Identity politics is greatly connected to the idea that some social groups are oppressed which can lead to stereotyping, violence, appropriation of identities or even erasure of them. The term was coined by the Combahee River Collective in 1977 and gained use in the 1980s, gaining currency with the emergence of social activism, manifesting in various dialogues within the feminist, American civil rights, and LGBT movements, disabled groups, as well as multiple nationalist and postcolonial organizations, for example: Black Lives Matter movement.

For example, in more recent years, the Black Lives Matter movement gained immense news coverage of people of all identity speaking up on the injustice that this group of people face within a society. This movement seeks to highlight racial violence and police brutality within society against black people, with the hashtag created in July 2013. This formed after the after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of a teen Trayvon Martin 17 months earlier in February 2012. It became nationally recognised for street demonstrations following the 2014 deaths of two more African Americans, Michael Brown and Eric Garner, being only some of the protested names of people who died at the hands of racial violence by the police. In the summer of 2015, Black Lives Matter activists became involved in the 2016 US election. The originators of the hashtag and call to action, Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi, expanded their project into a national network of over 30 local chapters between 2014 and 2016. Street demonstrations and public protests emerged of people, regardless of who they were, standing up for this cause.

CULTURE WARS: a type of conflict which occurs when different beliefs and cultures clash against one another, the struggling for dominance of their personal values. It commonly refers to topics on which there is general societal disagreement and polarization in societal values. This can occur on a micro or macro scale, able to give explanations for violence or even wars.

Cultural conflict is likely to emerge when the rules and values of one cultural group are substantially different from another, and members of the cultures come in contact with each other. This is commonly also phrased as a culture clash.

This term is usually used in western politics concerning issues such as homosexuality, transgender rights or racial viewpoints based upon personal views, morals or lifestyles. An example of cultural conflict is the debate over abortion in the United States, where it is legalised in some states however illegal in others. Ethnic cleansing is another extreme example of cultural conflict. Wars can also be a result of a cultural conflict; for example the differing views on slavery were one of the reasons for the American Civil War.