Formed by light
"Whatever is deeply, essentially female -- the life in a woman's expression, the feel of her flesh, the shape of her breasts, the transformations after childbirth of her skin -- is being reclassified as ugly, and ugliness as disease. These qualities are about an intensification of female power, which explains why they are being recast as a diminution of power. At least a third of woman's life is marked with ageing; about a third of her body is made of fat. Both symbols are being transformed into operable condition -- so that women will only feel healthy if we are two thirds of the women we could be. How can an 'ideal' be about women if it is defined as how much of a female sexual characteristic does not exist on the woman's body, and how much of a female life does not show on her face?"
Naomi Wolf, The Beauty Myth
This series of portraits challenges an idea of a woman as we see in adverts, magazine covers, TV shows: a skinny white girl in her early twenties. I photographed women of different ages and ethnicities, that, in my opinion, and according to statistics, are under-represented in the media, kind of invisible, or - if visible - then often misrepresented and ridiculed. Simple light and plan clothing blurs boundaries of social status, and a lack of make-up brings out women's natural beauty. The portraits are inspired by Rembrandt's paintings and his use of light. By employing a classical form, I position the image of a modern woman in a timeless sphere.
2016