I am very interested in feminism and art history. I am also an admirer of famous paintings throughout world history. I am intrigued with the way women have been presented in paintings by men compared to women throughout art history. Mostly women are portrayed by men as beautiful and obedient decorative objects, posed in submissive positions within domestic environments. However, there are some exceptions where women were painted carrying out violent actions; or where women painted themselves in a powerful way. I recreate and reference many of these paintings of women within my own photographs. I have constructed scenes and digitally added and subtracted various elements; making the image feel like an isolated world that only exists within the frame of the photograph. I want indications of both the past and current eras to be apparent. Props, lighting, and the subject are all very important factors in this series. My goal is to parody as well as make my own statement on how the roles of women have changed from the time these paintings were made to now. The paintings I chose to work with are predominately those by western painters; those are what I have been most exposed to during my education. Some of my influences are Tom Hunter, who recreated the character of Hamlet’s Ophelia in his photograph Ophelia; as well as Eugenio Recuenco, who did a project transforming models into Picasso paintings and then photographing them.
