What She Said
To pull a line from this exhibition’s namesake song:
“What she said was sad / But then, all the rejection she's had / To pretend to be happy / Could only be idiocy”
How perfectly that Smith’s song illustrated my youth. I had been shooting in the streets for years, both candidly and asking for portraits with no particular grand scheme. But over the last 5 years I came to a realization that many of the women that I was approaching for portraits had something in common. They were me when I was their age, or they were what I wanted to be. Once this became apparent my focus shifted and this project became clear to me. I was drawn to these women for a reason. Young girls today are living in a much different world than I did, but the experience of growing up female is universal no matter what the time. I see my own struggles, disappointments and bravery in these girls. I decided to take these modern portraits and pair them with my own teenage journal entries from the mid to late 80’s. As someone who survived a bumpy transition into adulthood I hope that this look into my teen-aged mindset and dramas along with these modern girls evolving into womanhood will give hope that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and we will all look back and smile at how intensely life felt at that age.
"What She Said" opens Saturday 25th June in Los Angeles at http://littlebigmangallery.com/
