Contemporary Women Photographers to Check Out, Part 2

Hello again, Everybody!

Here's the second part of my list of inspiring female photographers.  I realize that this list is only a tiny example of the talented women working today in the field of photography.  Please feel free to post any female photographers that you think have been overlooked in the comments section.  I will try to included them in a future post.

Enjoy.

Judy Dater (American)  is known for her portraits and nudes that challenge our preconceived notions of a woman's body.  Her work has strong ties to the emergence and evolution of the feminist movement.

Shadi Ghadirian (Iranian) uses humor and stereotypes to depict the Iranian woman of today and her struggle between tradition and modernity.

Agnieszka Sosnowska (Polish) takes narrative self-portraits in the Icelandic countryside that simultaneously expose strength and vulnerability.

Dita Pepe (Czech) creates self-portraits, reminiscent of casual snapshots, which explore how the relationship to one's surroundings reflects on identity.

Lucy Hilmer (American) is known primarily for her long term series, especially Birthday Suits.  Through these projects she takes on the theme of time and both the things that change and those that stay the same.

Elena Chernyshova (Russian) is a documentary photographer interested in investigating different cultures, lifestyles and the human ability to adapt to extremes.

Katerina Belkina (Russian) creates dreamlike self-portraits and uses digital manipulation to impart a surreal quality while she addresses the themes of beauty and drama.

Maia Flore (French) touches upon the themes of childhood, and memory. Her narrative fabrications hover along the boundaries between reality and imagination.

Daro Sulakauri (Georgian) is a photojournalist giving a voice to human rights issues like underage marriage.

Marja Pirila (Finnish) uses light as her theme and it's influence.  By using pinhole cameras and camera obscura she places the process of photography at the forefront of her imagery.

Juul Kraijer (Dutch) makes haunting, otherworldly images of female models devoid of individuality.  They share components of both Renaissance paintings and Surrealism.

Hellen van Meene (Dutch) photographs teenage girls with resulting images that are both graceful and awkward.  Her work touches upon our ideas of adolescence and normality.

Eugenia Maximova (Bulgarian-Austrian) sees photography as a form of visual anthropology.  Her work is strongly influenced by her journalistic background.

Nina Roeder (German) recreates memories and constructs scenes to delve into time, memory and the interaction between figure and space.

Foremothers of Photography

Happy Womens History Month to all!

Today, I would like to share a small sampling of formidable women photographers.  Some of these women may already be familiar to you. But, since I have seen so many articles this month about how the average person can't name 5 female artists or that women are completely underrepresented in the art world in comparison to their participation, I want to create a space with this blog to help balance things out. I have only scratched the surface while building this list.  So, I highly recommend that you click on the links provided to explore the impressive portfolios of these artists further.

Dorothea Lange (May 26, 1895 – October 11, 1965) was an American documentary photographer and photojournalist whose most famous work was done during the Depression for the Farm Security Administration. Her images shed light on the poverty and suffering that beset the migratory farm workers of that time.

Margaret Bourke-White (June 14, 1904 – August 27, 1971) was a trailblazing American documentary photographer.  She worked as associate editor and staff photographer of Fortune magazine. She was the first Western photographer allowed to take photographs of Soviet industry and was the first female war correspondent during World War II.

Berenice Abbott (July 17, 1898 – December 9, 1991) was an American photographer best known for her b&w photography of New York City architecture in the 1930s.  She was a proud feminist before that was even a thing, once saying, "The world doesn't like independent women, why, I don't know, but I don't care."

Gertrude Käsebier (1852–1934) was an influential American photographer.  Her work focused on depictions of motherhood and powerful portraits of Native Americans. She was also a strong advocate of photography as a career for women despite the conflicting general opinion of the time.

 

Helen Levitt (August 31, 1913 – March 29, 2009) was an American photographer who shot street photography in New York City, and earned the moniker, "the most celebrated and least known photographer of her time."  Her career as a photographer spanned nearly 70 years.

Anne Wardrope (Nott) Brigman (1869–1950) was an American photographer and an original members of the Photo-Secession movement. Her most famous images depicted strong nude women in nature.  Her suggestions of bohemianism and female liberation were an exhilarating contrast to what was otherwise typical.


Claude Cahun (25 October 1894 – 8 December 1954) was a French photographer. Her work touched upon both political and personal motifs, and challenged the narrow definitions of gender of her time.  Her self-portraits were heavily influenced by Surrealism.

Germaine Luise Krull (29 November 1897 – 31 July 1985) was a photographer and political activist.  Man Ray once told her, "Germaine, you and I are the greatest photographers of our time, I in the old sense you in the modern one."  She was a vocal part of a group of early 20th-century female photographers who aimed to take control of their own livelihoods and careers in photography when these ideas were unheard of for women.

Francesca Stern Woodman (April 3, 1958 – January 19, 1981) was an American photographer best known for her black and white self portraits. Her work continues to be the subject of much critical acclaim and attention, years after she took her own life at 22, in 1981. Her photographs explore issues of gender and self.

Leila Alaoui (10 July 1982 – 18 January 2016) was a French-Moroccan photographer. She often worked for magazines and NGOs covering the plight of refugees around the world. She died from injuries suffered in a terrorist attack in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso while on assignment. Alaoui believed that photography and art could be used for social activism and "reflecting and questioning society".

Stay tuned for the next installments of Celebrating Women in Photography in which we will highlight contemporaries in the field.  And, don't forget to subscribe below to insure that you don't miss out on any post from the foxcraft blog.