Women and girls running to their freedom like wild horses... Welcome to the fairy-tale story of young runaway women as portrayed by Justine Kurland.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JUSTINE KURLAND WORDS BY IMA TRAUM
The essence of being a young woman is infinite freedom, not fear. This is what Kurland highlights in Girl Pictures. At first glance, we see the tale of women and girls who have lost their way in the wild, only to find themselves, but there is a subtext: the intrepid freedom of women who defy modern realities. Kurland’s ‘runaway’ women do not shy away from frolicking nude, in the wild in – they have renounced such fears. By venturing into the ‘forest’ – a concept associated with going against the norm, since Shakespeare – these women also remind us of the limits of freedom in the modern world, the roadsides that serve as migration corridors, the changing face of our forests, and the women who keep up their struggle.
Kurland describes her photography as navigating ‘the spectrum between the perfect and the real.’ Her work appears in several reputable collections, including the National Gallery of Art, Washington, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the International Center of Photography, New York and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Girl Pictures was published as a book in 2020, after the full series was exhibited for the first time, at Mitchell-Ines & Nash, in 2018. The first edition of the book quickly sold out and reprints followed. Kurland sold the caravan she drove while shooting Girl Pictures, as things changed around her — she identifies the election of Donald Trump as a moment where the meaning of her work shifted a bit — she stopped wanting to perform in the same way. She has since started new work, which she describes as ‘all about looking inward and thinking about what I was running from.’
Women and girls running to their freedom like wild horses... Welcome to the fairy-tale story of young runaway women as portrayed by Justine Kurland.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JUSTINE KURLAND WORDS BY IMA TRAUM
The essence of being a young woman is infinite freedom, not fear. This is what Kurland highlights in Girl Pictures. At first glance, we see the tale of women and girls who have lost their way in the wild, only to find themselves, but there is a subtext: the intrepid freedom of women who defy modern realities. Kurland’s ‘runaway’ women do not shy away from frolicking nude, in the wild in – they have renounced such fears. By venturing into the ‘forest’ – a concept associated with going against the norm, since Shakespeare – these women also remind us of the limits of freedom in the modern world, the roadsides that serve as migration corridors, the changing face of our forests, and the women who keep up their struggle.
Kurland describes her photography as navigating ‘the spectrum between the perfect and the real.’ Her work appears in several reputable collections, including the National Gallery of Art, Washington, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the International Center of Photography, New York and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Girl Pictures was published as a book in 2020, after the full series was exhibited for the first time, at Mitchell-Ines & Nash, in 2018. The first edition of the book quickly sold out and reprints followed. Kurland sold the caravan she drove while shooting Girl Pictures, as things changed around her — she identifies the election of Donald Trump as a moment where the meaning of her work shifted a bit — she stopped wanting to perform in the same way. She has since started new work, which she describes as ‘all about looking inward and thinking about what I was running from.’
Women and girls running to their freedom like wild horses... Welcome to the fairy-tale story of young runaway women as portrayed by Justine Kurland.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JUSTINE KURLAND WORDS BY IMA TRAUM
The essence of being a young woman is infinite freedom, not fear. This is what Kurland highlights in Girl Pictures. At first glance, we see the tale of women and girls who have lost their way in the wild, only to find themselves, but there is a subtext: the intrepid freedom of women who defy modern realities. Kurland’s ‘runaway’ women do not shy away from frolicking nude, in the wild in – they have renounced such fears. By venturing into the ‘forest’ – a concept associated with going against the norm, since Shakespeare – these women also remind us of the limits of freedom in the modern world, the roadsides that serve as migration corridors, the changing face of our forests, and the women who keep up their struggle.
Kurland describes her photography as navigating ‘the spectrum between the perfect and the real.’ Her work appears in several reputable collections, including the National Gallery of Art, Washington, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the International Center of Photography, New York and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Girl Pictures was published as a book in 2020, after the full series was exhibited for the first time, at Mitchell-Ines & Nash, in 2018. The first edition of the book quickly sold out and reprints followed. Kurland sold the caravan she drove while shooting Girl Pictures, as things changed around her — she identifies the election of Donald Trump as a moment where the meaning of her work shifted a bit — she stopped wanting to perform in the same way. She has since started new work, which she describes as ‘all about looking inward and thinking about what I was running from.’
POSITOPIA
17
OUT NOW
is a large format international biannual magazine from Istanbul. Focusing on arts, culture and society, each issue tackles various universal subjects within a distinct theme.
Address
Mim Kemal Öke Cad. No.6 D.6 Nişantaşı, Şişli, İstanbul, Turkey
+90 212 232 4288
contact@212magazine.com
POSITOPIA
17
OUT NOW
is a large format international biannual magazine from Istanbul. Focusing on arts, culture and society, each issue tackles various universal subjects within a distinct theme.
Address
Mim Kemal Öke Cad. No.6 D.6 Nişantaşı, Şişli, İstanbul, Turkey
+90 212 232 4288
contact@212magazine.com
POSITOPIA
17
OUT NOW
is a large format international biannual magazine from Istanbul. Focusing on arts, culture and society, each issue tackles various universal subjects within a distinct theme.
Address
Mim Kemal Öke Cad. No.6 D.6 Nişantaşı, Şişli, İstanbul, Turkey
+90 212 232 4288
contact@212magazine.com