Georgina Brixton, 1995 - Corrine Day
Corrine Day made a distinctive contribution to fashion photography in the early 1990's. She was one of the pioneers of a style that is candid and hard-hitting. Day continues to work for style magazines such as Ray Gun, Dazed & Confused and Vogue Homme International. In contrast to the traditional and glamorous images which dominated fashion photography during the late 1908's, Day's work represents a more informal, confrontational, and confessional approach to the medium. She has used unconventional and sometimes androgynous models to question to gender sterotyping found in the mainstream media and magazines.
"In the eighties you had to wear loads of make-up. I didn't like the fac poses and phony faces. I thought fashion photography was about the photographer, instead of the person they photographed"
The girl in the photograph is Georgina Cooper. Georgina Cooper is a British model and has been in a number of shhots including one that made it onto the cover of Vogue in 2002 aswell as being on the cover to The Face in 1997. Georgina has also been involved in a number of fashion shows with her first being in 1997. There are a number of photographs in 'The Diary, (Corrine Day's book which included personal photos of her life) of Georgina , and in a number of them she is wearing very revealing clothing which includes just a hoodie half zipped up with no bra on and just knickers on her bottom half. From doing my research, all of the photographs in 'The Diary' are of Corrine Day's close friends and family therefore Georgina knew Corrine very well in order to build up the confidence and close relationship to be photographed wearing revealing clothing as well as Corrine photograph her personal life. "I was pleased for her because Georgina is a genuine kind of person"
This photo is not a conventional fashion shop, instead being more in the candid photography genre. The model is caught off guard, in a scene not usually connected with high-class fashion modelling (a dirty, grimy flat in Brixton, hence the name of the photograph), giving a broken down, 'fallen from grace' story to the photo. This is unusual as many fashion shoots consist of backdrops, different costumes and hair and make-up done, this is what made Corinne Day unique and therefore made her famous as her photographs were so controversial in the way of Glamour vs Anti-Glamour. Corrine Day never made any of her models up in make-up and put them in front of backgrounds as this costs too much, therefore she wanted to keep things minimal, which leaves your mind to toy with the idea of both the emptiness and the fullness of the photo; the only two things that are in the photograph are Georgina Cooper and the leather sofa, therefore there is a sense of emptiness, yet the photograph is interesting in that you can look at it for a while and it sparks a number of questions that you want answering. A story is built up behind this photograph. To me, the story is one of drug use, and a hint of prostitution. The model's position is her fallen over, or crawling around the floor in a drug ridden state, enhanced by her dark, vacant eyes and frail form which make the model look weak and helpless, but also a twisted, hunched over, uncomfortable position makes her look dark, like she;s struggling, with her arm reaching out for help, but the other offering support.
From looking at the photo, there isn't too much similarity between any media/art works that I can think of. However I can think of similarities from my imagination of the type of drug and alcohol, sex fueled lifestyle some models may lead. Day may be quoting this in her selection of this photo. However on first seeing this photo, I thought that Georgina may have been a prostitute. However that may be purely judgmental instead of me having a pre-existing idea of a media work that she could of quoted.
In fashion, the look 'heroin chic' was popular at the time that this photo was taken, with the main cover girl for the faze being Kate Moss. The trend was started by Day before the mainstream caught up, so her work before the trend hit the big-time was often critized, but afterwards was hailed as being very in fashion and highly in-demand. A grungy style, sunken eyes and a gaunt appearance were common among models and I feel that what Day has done in this photo has taken that fashion back into it's origins and place the model with the 'heroin chic' looks into the surroundings that would most likely house a heroin addict, fitting two pieces together. This creates a shocking photo to myself and others. It takes wheat is usually seen as a beautiful, ideal person and makes them play in an ugly and much less than ideal situation. In the late 1980's/early 1990's heroin gained popularity and became the drug of choice, even Corinne Day herself was addicted. I feel this was also showing the horror and the ugly side to the glamorized addiction to drugs.
After researching Day and her work, I discovered that this was not actually a staged shot, but instead a personal candid shot of one of her model friends, Georgina Cooper, and thus paints a true portrait of a person on drugs, and allows the viewer to see a much more intimate and personal side to the model. This shot was taken at the height of the 'heroin chic' movement, so I feel this was Day's response to the look suddenly becoming desirable, (as she has been documenting the realities of drug use and it's outcomes before).
Lines in this photo are mostly straight and sharp, including lots of obvious angles, which give a violent feel to this photo. The significance of the angles is important because angles and straight lines symbolize conflict and bad emotions and are also more striking to the eye than soft, flowing lines, Day wanted this photo to be striking and shocking to get her point and her message across. Lines go diagonal due to Day holding the camera at an angle. She has done this to create a strange, different view point, which looks disturbing to the eye. It also gives the look of the twisted world that someone who is on drugs would see, with things not how they are meant to be, creating a 'strung-out' feeling to the image.
The photo is worn with the tinge of age adding years onto it, perhaps symbolizing her being stuck in the rut of addiction, seemingly endless, and also adding to the dirty feel of the location.
Unnatural lighting has been used to light this shot, i'm guessing a light of a separate flash placed higher and to the right of the camera. This mainly highlights the model making her the main focus, although I am particully drawn to the back of the model, as it is both highlighted, divided into two and has delicate, femininely curved lines (although the hips still have some degree of control and structure) which contrast with the sharp angles in this shot. The use of unnatural lighting leaves this photo looking almost like a 'deer caught in headlights', although the model is too out of it to realize the photo is being taken. The bright flash is directed towards the center, light the headlights and the photo graduates to shadows towards the edges of the photo, reminiscent of the dark of the night, The photo fading to black at the edges also borders the photo, naming it seem closed in and confined. This contrasts with the overall scene of the photograph being empty, which aslo plays with the idea of emptiness/fullness again.
No comments:
Post a Comment