Complications, Texture & Mystery
Beginning an examination of what I, as a woman, a person, an artist/designer am drawn to. Creating a writing practice (stream of consciousness style), in order to understand how I can be so affected, charged and compelled by an image. What does it touch? What can I learn from it? How can it inform what I’m making?
And so the process starts with considering the images of Francesca Woodman. Complications, texture and mystery, three things that Micaela Coel mentioned as hallmarks of her own work in a recent article, and also a nice summation of the qualities that so many Woodman images share.
Complications
Woodman’s work undoubtedly deals with complex, provocative, and often fraught portrayals of femininity. Languid, untethered, sensual, sullied, decaying, unpredictable, erotic and melancholic.
Quite a Pandora’s box Which I’m drawn to because…
I like inner worlds not outer facades I like images that are intimate That make me feel like I’m bearing witness to something previously undisclosed I want the truth about how chaotic and wild our inner worlds really are I dislike tidy representations of humanity I’d rather see the unhoned, more feral areas of the psyche The messy insides The parts that are not shored up, or cultivated With such images I recognize, and feel recognized simultaneously
Texture
Tactile and imagined So much of her work includes textiles, quilts, prints, clothing, lingerie (she wanted to be a fashion photographer at one point) She uses these elements to move between aesthetic choices for the actual image to metaphors about human-ness and existentialism
As an example, this image
It's both a contemplation of anatomical structure as well as a celebration of texture and pattern. Seemingly disparate elements speak the same language. The rebar interior of a wall's structure references the sea life fossil or leaf remains being held, which in turn refers to her own spine. The dress with it's printed pattern of leaf fronds recalls the skeletal structure of what her hand is holding (next to her spine).
All parts of the image are ruminations on the internal structure of beings/objects, the vertebrae and bones, the things that keep us upright, moving, and protected. The usefulness of rigidity, such as holding a wall intact, but also the way that a skeleton (made up of rigid parts) if organized well should and can move with grace, sway, and flexibility. Strength and suppleness holding hands.
Mystery
There is no doubt that Woodman herself was a mystery, her extreme precociousness and tragic death. The latter is a lens that it’s hard not to look through but putting that aside her images leave so much to the imagination. It feels like there are many storylines that could be unfurled from each image. So much to be considered as far as location, props, styling, and composition. A sense of relentless self examination, and experimentation with no filter, eschewing convention or propriety.
Take away… we are all full of unchartered territories, there are many treasures to be found, they are not all tied up with bows, digging down to find them could be messy work, but it’s worth the toil. It could result in a truer and more unique artistic expression, and even if not I’d rather get a little dirty with sweat and tears than live a life unexamined.
