Margaret LeJeune

Modern Day Diana

March 1 - May 2, 2013

Diana was the Roman goddess of the hunt. She was praised for her strength, athletic grace, beauty and hunting skills. Her vigor, health, and strength were admired and her protection was sought for young children and women in childbirth.

This series explores the modern notions of women hunters and the issues of gender, power and representation. Each image captures a very personal depiction of the sitter, made evident by the setting. By photographing in each woman’s home or hunting lodge I create a dynamic that questions the relationship between the domestic sphere, traditionally the women’s place, and the hunting world, typically a masculine realm. The attributes of Diana, that of the bow and arrow, hunting dog, stag and animal pelts, further express this dichotomy.

The images in this series were captured across the United States with a large-format 4 x 5 camera. The film was scanned and final output was created with lightjet technology. Contact was established with the hunters via “cold calls” to hunting and gun clubs and by word-of-mouth.

ABOUT THE ARTIST: Margaret LeJeune holds an MFA from Visual Studies Workshop and a BFA from Nazareth College. She is currently an Assistant Professor at Bradley University in Peoria, IL. Her work has received many awards, most notably the Center Curator's Choice Award from Roxana Marcoci, Curator of Photographs, Museum of Modern Art and First Prize in the Women’s International Photography Exhibition by Margaret Salisbury, International Federation of Photographic Art. LeJeune has been an artist in residence at Vermont Studio Center, Spiro Arts (Park City, Utah,) and Women's Studio Workshop (Rosendale, NY.) Her work has been published in the Oxford American and Visual Overture Magazine as well as several exhibition catalogs and has been exhibited widely in the U.S. https://margaretlejeune.com/