Justine Kurland made her mark with images like the one above. They are mysterious, narrative style prints. They are huge neo-romantic landscapes, which she fills with teenage girls. In a presentation here at Oberlin, she talked about her influences, her childhood growing up the daughter of a hippie, and the huge open landscapes of the American west. She opened her lecture with early photographs of the west, commissioned to inspire easterners to move there. She also showed some surreal pictures of fairies dancing around trees, which seemed to inspire many of her images. The cast of characters in her images range from lonely looking runaway girls to miscievous girls tormenting teenage boys.
I enjoyed her presentation, and I really enjoyed her work. She has an attitude about her work and vision that is simultaneously firm in it's self-awareness and nonchalant in it's interpretation. She always sets out with a topic in mind for her pictures, but sometimes what happens is completely different, and insetad of pretending what happened was her intention, she accepts, and embraces the mistake, and I think that's a beautiful thing in a work ethic. Her attitude is adventurous as are her images. I am excited to see more of her work, as I know she is just getting her start.
I enjoyed her presentation, and I really enjoyed her work. She has an attitude about her work and vision that is simultaneously firm in it's self-awareness and nonchalant in it's interpretation. She always sets out with a topic in mind for her pictures, but sometimes what happens is completely different, and insetad of pretending what happened was her intention, she accepts, and embraces the mistake, and I think that's a beautiful thing in a work ethic. Her attitude is adventurous as are her images. I am excited to see more of her work, as I know she is just getting her start.
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