I forgot all about Lauren Greenfield’s amazing work until I was reminded of it on a blog recently. I should have referenced her already but this Bill Henson art debate has pushed me along. If you haven’t already seen some of Greenfield’s photographs, you’re going to really enjoy Girl Culture (here) and if you’re familiar with it then you still may enjoy contrasting it with Henson’s approach to female adolescence.
I love Lauren Greenfield’s work and I’ve had her book, Girl Culture, displayed on my office bookcase for several years (my research focuses on adolescent girls). The shot on the cover is a young girl looking at her cleavage. The photo is nuanced and poignant and disturbing. Yet I have experienced several men walk into my office and see something completely different.
I’m a big fan of Lauren Greenfield also. You’re right, the intent of her images seems a lot more respectful of her subjects than Henson’s. I guess that could be because she’s a documentary film maker as well though, so she probably has a greater sense of allowing the subject to represent themselves rather than creating scenes for them.
I flipped through her book at a bookstore years ago. This really is a great juxtaposition to Henson’s work. I agree with Audrey that Greenfield’s photojournalist approach makes her photos far less disagreeable and more honest. She doesn’t seem to be manipulating anyone here–just witnessing. Henson, of course, is posing and artificializing, etc…his “eye” is much more obvious, although of course every photographer has one.
Hmm…do you think it’s really all so candid though, and not posed? Even framing a shot (what you put in, what you leave out) is vaguely artificial (it reminds me of my post on truthtelling – photography is a suspicious art form).
What this series makes me think is that it’s at least partly about context. The placement of the photos together shed light on other photos (simply reproduce say Sara shopping in Soho and we might not see it as an interesting commentary on femininity and instead see it as just another skinny chick indulging in a vacuous capital exercise). I think part of the issue with Henson’s photographs (and sorry if I seem to be flogging a dead horse but I am a) thinking aloud and b) thinking about writing the PhD that I’m probably starting next year on some aspect of this) is that they’ve torn it out of context, whacked it on page three of the newspaper (isn’t it funny how they always manage to find their page three girl?) or cast it against the cruel glare of a backlit internet and declared it smutty and offensive – most of us now will never get the chance to know how we would have responded to the photographs if we’d encountered them as a set, in the gallery, without a second level of commentary already laden on them.
Thank you so much for sharing this link – I’ve bookmarked it and I plan to get my hands on more of her work.
Somehow i missed the point. Probably lost in translation
Anyway … nice blog to visit.
cheers, Menisci.