Loralei

I am a bad girl. I’m not quiet; I don’t know my place; I’m in your face. My life and my art have reached a point of non-passivity. I have turned my outrage into outrageousness. I want to slap others up-side the head but in a mocking manner. In the process I often slap myself. It wakes me up. It seems I’m not the only one in that frame of mind these days. A bad girl (as described by Marcia Tucker in "Bad Girls," a book about an exhibit of the same name) is one of the new generation of feminist artists. Tucker says: "In the visual arts, increasing numbers of women artists, photographers, cartoonists, performers, video and filmmakers are defying the conventions and properties of traditional femininity to define themselves according to their own terms, their own pleasures, their own interests, in their own way. But they’re doing it by using a delicious and outrageous sense of humor (often pointed at themselves) to make sure not only that everyone gets it, but to really give it to them as well. That’s what we mean by 'bad girls'.” Edible comes from the “Faces of Woman” series which is commenting on the roles that women play for men and how men see or want to see women. Women are often seen in a negative light and men often desire them to be the impossible. I do self-portraits to understand how I interface with society but also to build a more universal expression of women’s experience. My early photographs were often of small isolated objects found in empty fields. When I realized that these were metaphors for myself, I began to include myself in the photographs. I did this by making double-exposures of my face with objects. The first one was made in 1988; I have been making self-portraits ever since. The “Faces of Woman” series dispenses with the obfuscating objects and my face engages the viewer directly. They are larger than life and bold. I have become empowered.