Photobooth Series

11 x 14 inch silver gelatin photographs
Edition 1/4 + 1 AP / created 1977 / printed 2024

IF

The world is in a state of redefinition and some of the understanding of self comes from looking backward. With my project, IF, I have revisited my photograph archive, reexamining ideas and work from another time in my life that remain relevant. This series originated in vintage analog Photobooths using elements cut from fashion magazine ads.. IF considers self-identity and beauty and looks at how advertising invites comparisons. This concept parallels issues affecting young women today as they seek to define themselves through social media platforms.

When I created this performative project, I was exploring questions that examined what was making me feel inadequate and imperfect. Advertising images have always held interest for me. Fashion magazines often use larger-than-life-size images that are suggestive, intriguing, disturbing, and intimidating. They deliver a message that our body parts and/or size or type are other than what’s desirable. In the Photobooth, a readymade studio, I was interested in physically comparing myself to the actual magazine page or fragment of the page.

What I really see in these photographs is the way that advertising leads one to think - what if I used that lipstick and I could have those lips? What if I had those eyes? Would I be better? Beautiful? Younger? Successful? Sexier? And then with the wisdom of time and age I consider – what does perfection mean? 

View installation images.

Looking Ahead

11 x 14 inch silver gelatin photograph
Edition 1/4 + 1 AP / created 1977 / printed 2024

20 x 24 inch silver gelatin photograph
Edition 1/4 + 1 AP / created 1977 / printed 2024