“I was inventing a Language for people to see…” – Francesca Woodman
Francesca Woodman was an American photographer well known for her B&W photographs which often featured herself or female models. Throughout her life she had practiced techniques such as long exposure to try and capture movement, blur and occasionally full disappearance. She took inspiration from surrealism and fashion which can be seen throughout her images featuring clothing.
Woodman was interested in what photography as a medium does with time, it disrupts the linear flow between the past, present, and future. As a female artist, these interests made her work unusual for its time, since Feminist artists of that time were boldly affirming individual presence, Woodman privileged trace, absence, and reflection.
To create her photographs Woodman used long shutter speeds and double exposures, this allowed her to create her ghost like and ethereal images, by doing this she was also able to capture different stages of movement and a pattern of time.
“Real things don’t frighten me just the ones in my mind do.”
Analysis of Work
Technical –
Unlike some other pieces of her work, Woodman most likely used a faster shutter speed to avoid capturing movement within this photograph. She has also used natural lighting and a varied tonal range, the darkest parts of the image are completely black while the lightest parts are a smoky white.
Visual –
Just like the rest of her photographs, this image is in black and white which adds to the image’s surrealist atmosphere. In this photograph she is wearing a polka-dot dress and directly making eye contact with the camera whilst some of her other photographs feature her nude body and blurred face.
Contextual –
This photograph as well as her other polka-dot dress images were a staple of her RISD period, these images were made while she was studying abroad with RISD in Italy from 1977 to 1978, these continued when she moved to New York 1979.
This photograph in particular, along with some others, were made in her studio/home which was an old dry goods factory off-campus with no kitchen, heat or shower. The decaying building was used as a backdrop for the majority of her work.
I chose Woodman as one of my inspo photographers because of the aesthetic of her work and uncanny aspect of them. I was also inspired by the blurred motion that she includes.
Links Used:
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/francesca-woodman-10512/finding-francesca
https://www.artnet.com/artists/francesca-woodman
https://woodmanfoundation.org/francesca/works
https://www.theartstory.org/artist/woodman-francesca
https://www.modernamuseet.se/malmo/en/exhibitions/francesca-woodman/francesca-woodman
https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2019/classic-photographs/francesca-woodman-polka-dots