Major Project: Documenting Domestic Abuse

One of the most famous images of domestic abuse, self portrait by Nan Goldin

Ive been looking at the way violence against women is glamourised in advertising but what about photographers who have documented actual cases of abuse and its victims. I didnt really know much about this except someone else in my class did their contextual project on the different ways male and female photographers use these themes in their work and its through her i found Sara Naomi Lewkowicz.Lukowicz's project Shane and Maggie documented the abusive relationship of 19 year old Maggie, her boyfriend Shane.This project was originally focused on Shanes life as an ex-convict but she began documenting the abuse Maggie was suffering at Shanes hand. Lukowicz has had a lot of criticism towards this project, being blamed for allowing the abuse to happen and not intervening but she has also won an award for her documentation for domestic violence. You can read an article by Sara documenting Maggies journey after leaving Shane here.

Image by Sara Naomi Lewkowicz

This article also mentions Donna Ferrato who has documented domestic violence for over 30 years after witnessing and documenting the physical abuse in a polyamourous couple she was sent to photograph by Playboy magazine in the 80s. She has created the series I Am Unbeatable focusing on women who have left their abusers.

Image from Donna Ferrato's I Am Unbeatable project

The way these female photographers document domestic violence is in stark contrast the the way the mostly male (at least from what ive seen) photographers use domestic violence as an edgy theme to advertise clothes in glossy magazines. I want to look at the theme of domestic abuse and violence against women not because theres a problem with its representation in the magazines bought primarily by women but because its a very real problem in a lot of womens lives. Its a reality in Scottish womens lives and i want to show this through my work. Domestic abuse is the fourth most common cause of homelessness in Scotland and research by Scottish Womens Aid found that women leaving abusive homes were being let down by local councils and housing providers. Ive been doing some research through Rape Crisis Scotland's This is Not an Invitation to Rape Me.co.uk, according to them a survey done in Scotland in 2008 found that 27% of people thought a woman could be blamed for being raped if she was wearing revealing clothing, i'd hope that number would be lower now but who fucking knows.

 Ive been wondering if people see my images of a glamorous woman with a fake bruise and torn clothes they wont get the point im trying to make about shitty depictions of abuse in fashion media, but im not sure it really matters. If someone sees the image and they get pissed off that someone would be so callous as to show an abused woman like theres something beautiful and aspirational about that, well they should be.

Major Project: Fashion Photography and Violence Against Women

'If we finally got rid of the idea that fashion if for victims, maybe we'd see fewer victimized women in fashion magazines.' -Jenna Sauers.

One weird thing i wanted to look at in the realm of fashion photography was the image of the battered woman frequently used in editorial shoots in popular high fashion magazines. These images have appeared since the 70s in editorials in magazines or as part of a fashion brands advertising showing female models as glamourised victims of physical abuse. In the 1980s there was a trend to show women in fashion ads bound and gagged or appear beaten. The image of the beautiful female corpse has been part of advertising imagery for decades still appearing today, theres a good article on the Guardian about this trend by Kira Cochrane here.

Over the years female corpses, especially beautiful female corpses, have become a staple of fashion shoots, advertising campaigns and TV shows – with sexual and fatal violence against women a favourite of TV programmes looking to boost a waning audience or build a new one. -Kira Cochrane.

 

Dolce & Gabbana advert described by some as a 'rape ad'

The fashion industry has gotten a lots of criticism for this glamourisation of violence against women and the fetishisation of its victims but with these images appearing in some of the biggest magazines and being used by the biggest brands like Calvin Klein and Dolce & Gabanna its almost like no one actually gives a shit, whether thats the advertisers or audience. Or maybe this kind of Shockvertising is a cynical ploy for attention, to be seen as edgy, to show that the world of high fashion goes beyond the realms of boring old good taste.

'The Wrong Turn' by photographer Raj Shetye based on the gang rape of a woman on a bus in New-Dehli

The thing is that in a world where violence against women in a very real threat the idea of having these images in magazines and advertising aimed at women doesnt seem very edgy or alternative at all rather just reinforcing the idea of sexualised violence being a constant and normal part of being female. The image of the beautiful battered woman has become so commonplace now that you cant even call it shocking or controversial, its more cliched than anything in my opinion.

Part of a beauty spread by 12 Magazine showing the faces of models bruised, cut and burned with acid

One of the reasons i wanted to research this as part of my major project is because this imagery, this objectification and sexualisation of beaten women is so common in fashion advertising. Fashion imagery can be beautiful and fantastical but it can also be basically exploitative and awful, completely separated from reality in a bad way. Domestic violence is a real world problem, its a problem in my home country. The idea that people want to create images of battered women in order to create a beautiful fantasy is just completely awful. I want some of my images to highlight the reality of being a woman in Scotland today, dealing with our problems around domestic abuse and sexual assault. I can either use these images as a reference point to not glamourise my photos, or be so over the top and awful and hold a mirror up to this trope.
 


Read more about fashion photography and violence against women on Jezebel here, and more about the New-Dehli bus rape fashion shoot on Time.com
More examples of images on Buzzfeed

Major Project: Trip To Aviemore and Creating Characters

This past week i took a trip up to Aviemore for a little holiday and inspiration from my surroundings. Had some nice walks and got some nice pictures around the lochs, have to say that when it comes to creating my final images its a bit of a trek to go that far up north so right now just using the colours and textures to draw inspiration from.

I also had a bit of down time and watched the new Macbeth film (not because im too lazy to read it). It managed to get the cold bluey atmosphere of Scotland down right, i also really liked some of the costume and makeup design with not only Macbeths facepaint but Lady Macbeth and the other women having these light blue stripes across their eyes.

Michael Fassbender as Macbeth (2015)

Ive had a bit more of a think about the characters i want to create and i think im getting somewhere with three characters based around Scotlands bloody history, what people think Scotland is and Scottish stereotypes and the harsh reality of being a woman in Scotland today. I think im going to use a combination of rural and urban landscape mixing those two sides of what Scotland is.

On my trip up to Aviemore i just by chance bought the latest copy of Love Magazine. Its a really artsy British visual fashion mag that has these big editorial fashion stories one of which was based on Heironymous Bosh's The Garden of Earthly Delights by Tim Walker. So im considering maybe making a magazine type thing to display several images. Something ive noticed is that this magazine seems to have less sexualisation of the naked female body or depictions of women as victims as the big name mags like Vogue.

 

 

 

Tim Walker for Love Mgazine S/S16

Ive also been told to think about creating some kind of video or moving image to go with my photos, I would like to do this but it depends on how much extra work its going to be overall. Ive had a look at SHOWstudio which is like the home of fashion film.

In this coming week i want to have my three characters fleshed out a bit, to be thinking about exactly how i want my photos to look and the feel of them in order to create a connection with my audience and maybe get out Scouting locations at the weekend.

Major Project: Still Researching

Since my last blog post ive been getting on with my research still and getting together a bunch of visual research to go in my sketchbook. As to the look of my photographs i found this really nice fashion shoot of Saoirse Ronan by Steven Meisel for Vogue based on the work of the Pre-Raphealites. Im really liking the romantic look and the use of contrasting red and greens as well as the reference to paintings which ive done before.

Saoirse Ronan for US Vogue by Steven Meisel

Keeping with fashion photography ive also been looking at depections of violence and battered women being used in fashion photography, i found really interesting articles on the subject on Jezebel here and The Guardian here. On a more progressive note for women ive been looking at the place women have in modern day Scotland with a bit of help from Engender's website. Engender is an orginisation for women in Scotland focusing on equality.

Back to artists research i found the work of Elene Usdin when i was researching fashion photography and objectification, in this article for the British Journal of Photography she talks about her self portraits mocking the idea of female objectification, being surreal and farcical.

Image by Elene Usdin

Another artist who merges self portraiture and fantasy using beautiful but stark landscapes is Kylli Sparre, she has done work inspired by dance and movement of the body, as a professionally trained dancer she has the dramatic pose down im pretty sure if i want to do something similar i might need to limber up a bit.

Image by Kylli Sparre

This weekend im going to be in Avimore, im starting to look at landscape and colour and im hoping to get lots of inspiration as well as having free time to read some more history based books.