Dinah Day-Booth

Artist Statement

“What is femininity, and how can I depict it through photography?” I explored the typical depictions of women in my first series: “The Flowers.” It commented on the association of women with flowers, and how this leads to women being viewed one-dimensionally I chose photos where the subjects stood out amongst the flowers. The flowers, instead of their usual purpose to complement the subjects, were meant to juxtapose them, showing how much depth a woman has in comparison with a flower. After analysis, I saw that my subjects had been comfortable engaging with the stereotype. So, for my next project, I decided to create a series on women taking power back through femininity, using motifs like the color pink, dresses, and different angles. Although these things have all been considered to suppress the real possibilities and expression of women, feminine people taking them back and owning them as their own showcases how powerful women can be, and how their choices of expression display this power. After revision, I settled on using techniques to draw out the pink in each photo, rather than letting it overpower the other elements. Finally, inspired by events in my own life, I shot photos for a series I called “Lifegiver”, examining motherhood. I intended it to be black and white, however, in the editing process, I found through practice that experimenting with certain colors brought new meaning to the photographs, such as bringing out melancholy and solemn moods that had been less evident when the photos were in black and white. Overall, my exploration has been guided by my question, but influenced by each piece I create, so my work builds on itself and slowly evolves over time, each time realizing new pieces of what makes up femininity as a whole.