Jessica Ledwich is a feminist photographer based in Melbourne, Australia who explores very controversial topics in her work. The explorations of such topics allow her to unfold the workings of human behaviour and to analyse how society works. Jessica's most popular series, Monstrous Feminine, explores the value that society places on vanity and youth and how this can result in women going to extreme measures to seek eternal youth and perfection. Not only does this change the way women act and feel, but it shapes their identity as a whole as they begin 'acting young' in order to stay in touch with their youth.
I have decided that I would like to use Jessica Ledwich as a main artist in my research as she her Monstrous Feminine piece is based on the topic of feminism - a topic that I wished to focus on myself. The use of exaggeration and surrealism in her images create a great impact on the viewer and puts across her intended message perfectly, as it is hard to misinterpret such a clear picture. This technique will come to influence my work, as I want the message that I am putting across to be very clear. Also, I am inspired by the feminist element of her work and so may take mine in this direction.
Throughout researching Jessica Ledwich's work, I have learnt that extreme images can sometimes be the best way to express a serious message about a very controversial topic. This is because sometimes the best way to really make someone think about such a topic is to be brutal in what is put across. In this case, Jessica has created some intense and perhaps gory pictures to show how serious the search for perfection has become.
From all of Jessica's work, this image has a more subtle point to it. Whilst at first it looks like a woman brushing her hair, in the background we can see her face in the mirror is red raw. Then, to her left, is a mask. This could connote how everyday women put on a 'mask' when they put on their make up and style their hair, hiding their true identities from the world. It could also connote how some women do not feel comfortable being their true selves and so hide behind a mask to be accepted.
This image shows a woman who has removed her fingers and replaced them with beauty tools. This is one of Jessica's more gory images. This image is extremely exaggerated, but connotes how women are willing to go through pain and lose themselves - physically or mentally - for beauty. The red colour of her nails could connote love in contrast to the red of the blood, and suggest that perhaps the woman is going through this to seek love.
This image shows the woman inserting a bio-hazard into an egg. When looking closely, you can see a pot in the background labelled 'XY Chromosome'. Due to this small detail, we can get a very strong message from this image. This image connotes self-fertilisation as the woman is inserting the XY chromosome into her egg. In this very unromantic portrayal of the 'road to motherhood', it represents the physical demands that society has on women's bodies.
In today's society, it is considered 'attractive' to have a tanned body. In the image above, we see a woman who has gone to extreme length to be tanned and instead has severely burned and damaged her skin. This connotes the physical toll that some beauty standards have on a body. The woman's skin is raw from the rays used in an attempt to tan her, showing how damaging the beauty ideals of society can be when they control how somebody see's themselves.
This image shows a woman standing in a Chanel coffin. This image implies how women seek to be eternally youthful, beautiful and classy as even though the woman is supposedly 'dead', she is still completely made up and has a coffin from the brand Chanel. Although, this image could also have a deeper and darker connotation of the death of the woman. It could suggest that women no longer exist but are purely a product of man and society.
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