Portrait research - inspirations (Jen Davis)

Jen Davis

"Eleven Years" from Jen Davis, is a book that inspired me for my first shooting,

It's a series of self-portraits where the photographer shows her daily life and how she could feel isolated from the society because of the size of her body. 

I related it with me, because depression can have the same effect of isolation.

In Jen Davis's photographs, the familiar experiences of daily life (shower, meals, clothes and embraces) are rendered as elemental forces and drives: water and light; nuorishment and warmth; dwelling, coupling and surviving.

The woman in these pictures is a complex character, but not because she is dressing up or acting out. She is, by her nature and the nature of her presence, someone who charges the most banal activities and placid rooms with drama and consequence.

The artist said about this project: "In this body of work, I deal with my insecurities about my body image and the direct correlation between self-perception and the way one is perceived by others" 

Overweight from an early age, Davis knew no different, but by 2002, she began to reflect on her life, telling her story through photographic self portraits, revealing her thoughts and opinions about the society in which we live—a society that dictates beauty based on one’s physical appearance. Originally employing a 4 x 5 view camera, she bravely turned the lens on herself, exploring not only her own insecurities, but also addressing broader societal standards of beauty, and how those rigid strictures impact individual lives. Challenging traditional expectations of female representation, the series continued for eleven years as Davis completed a BFA program at Columbia College Chicago and an MFA program at Yale University in New Haven before moving to New York City. 

Davis’ eleven year’s of reflection and introspection expertly bring into focus everyone’s passing sorrow and loneliness, in addition to our common moments of self-doubt and sometimes suffocating fears of inadequacy. Jen Davis’ story is both a personal one and something strikingly universal.