Otherworld - An Exploration into Femininity and the Earth

For this body of work, I have explored different photographic mediums to craft images that explore the complex relationship between femininity, folklore and the obscure. I have been making images using analogue practices such as large format cameras to create paper negative that are then crafted into larger prints as well as more traditional media such as my use of medium format film photography and digitally produced imagery.

Using alternative processes such as these has helped to support my vision of creating uneasy imagery, the large prints have an inconsistency to them that helps to create unsettling and dissociative qualities to the work, the softness surrounding my model creates a blur between her and the setting therefore creating a connection with her and the landscape. I have taken influence from Michel Foucault’s ‘Of Other Spaces: Utopias and Heterotopias’ in the selection of my setting aiming to explore this notion of Heterotopic landscapes. These aspects are designed to engulf the viewer and draw them into this heterotopic vision I have created. This narrative is enhanced by the moving image that accompanies the work, a short silent film shot using a cam-corder helps to appeal to my viewers in a visually different sense than the stills, drawing my audience further into this notion of other spaces and creating an alternative focus on the landscape.

The work takes influence from folklore and fairytales depictions of the woman and her close relationship with the earth, specifically heterotopic settings like a forest. The women have been positioned to mold into the nature and this is enhanced by the features of the prints, the graininess/blur between the model and her settings visually eradicates the boundary between her and her environment. Pairing these techniques with the slight destruction of the prints creates a fragmentation in the work, a reference to the lost connection we experience with our world as well as creating a unique and one-of-a-kind quality to the series.

This ongoing body of work explores alternative processes that secures the images in the realm of fine art photography, taking influence from a range of established photographers including the work of fashion photographer Deborah Tuberville and her iconic collage work, as well as portraiture from Julia Margaret Cameron to aid this exploration of contemporary feminism.