Maddison Acton

I create work that opens a space for the personal being political showing the private lives of women. I developed a Caravaggio influence in my photography through the lenses of photographers such as Cindy Sherman and Juno Calypso I am playing a character in front of the lens to represent the wider issue of the internalised male gaze; and the ways in which is effects women every day.

By showing stills of a woman getting ready in front of her mirror I started creating work studying the private spaces of women representing the solitude one feels in front of a mirror. Expressing the boundaries set out for women and how they can manifest into ‘putting on a façade’.

I set out to convey that my thoughts and actions are not my own but a ritualistic character of its own accord. Margaret Atwood suggests it perfectly in her novel The Robber Bride “pretending you aren’t catering to male fantasies is a male fantasy” adding with “You are a woman with a man inside watching a woman. You are your own voyeur”. This exploitive voyeuristic fantasy opened an array of ideas within my practice of self-reflection. Using dramatic contrast within my work I am showing the humanity behind the complexity of women trying to navigate and survive society. How are we truly free when the internalised views are not your own, but the result of a society grooming the fear into you from a young age.