The British Journal oh Photography: Female in Focus

MY SUBMISSION:

 

 

I had seen this competition a while ago and had wanted to apply as I feel that women are under represented in photography, particularly in work thats main focus isn’t feminism. I am not saying that feminist work is not beautiful or important, however I do feel that female photographers make a variety of work on many different subjects, that should also be highlighted for their importance, not just because the work was made by a woman. I did not apply to the competition right away because I was still waiting for my series to develop, therefore, I decided to wait until I had finished the work (for now) so as to upload a full series that embodies my theme. The images above are the ones I decided to enter into the competition, I felt they were a good balance of work about myself, my brothers and my sister. The work is about siblings, from a younger/ older sisters perspective, and therefore I feel many people would empathise with that situation and I hope that would make the work popular and interesting. I feel that my research behind the work was solid and enough to be able to back the work up contextually, as well as having personal experience that solidify my choice of visual representations. I hope I am successful in this competition, however, I am prepared to enter the series in upcoming competitions and am keeping my eye out for family/ sister photography project based competitions where I am able to express my own personal input in these areas. I see this work being in exhibition, as the aim of it is an exploration. Perhaps in the future the work will progress into a book. If I am to make this work a book, I would want to spend a long time working on it, and select a series of images that were perfect, as I feel that if I decided to solidifying the work in a book, my feeling and messages in the work would need to feel very considered.

I can imagine this work being part of a sociological/ psychological photography article, with supporting written material that includes my research. I feel as though the poem, Brother and Sister by Lewis Carroll could be an interesting thing to use as supporting material. I feel that the poem is conceptual enough to fit with the work, as well as being relatable for myself and many other people.

I feel that the work talks to many other people in my position, people who have many siblings and have felt overpowered by them in the past, or people with younger sisters that copy their every move. I feel that the issue of the half- sibling has been an interesting point in my research, and I know that my sister, who is in the same position as me, feels the same way I, and many others do – that the half sibling is a strange mix between strangers and sisters. I would like the work to talk to people who have more than one older brother, and some of difficulties this can raise, such as feeling isolated, lonely and difference.

If this entry is unsuccessful I hope to find a competition that will allow me to showcase the work, and therefore showcase these themes and issues, which are very important to me.