Prints from photobook The Girls We Are
Leah Evans
The Girls We Are focuses on the transitional space between girlhood and womanhood by exploring the intersection between traditionally contrasting themes such as innocence and sexuality. The work consists of both my own photography as well as film pulled from family archives. This use of old film scans in the book adds a vintage feel to the work, while allowing me to employ photographs of myself, my sisters, and my mother in our youth. My photobook also looks at themes such as aging, sisterhood, and guilt through the use of photographs, poetry, text, photograms, and finally, the colour pink. Said Poetry and excerpts written by my sister Jordyn Evans compliment a number of the photographs, most prominently and appropriately with her poem “My Sister is Old at 21”. The Girls We Are employs a feminist critique on the sexualization of young girls and the expected embracement of sexuality by contrasting these issues.
Overall, the book employs a “coquette” hyper-feminine aesthetic in its execution and imagery, while addressing that the girl and the women coexist in many of us.
from left to right:
Heels, found film from family archives, inkjet print
Mirrored Fujica and Nets, 35mm film, inkjet print
Mom on Beach, found film from family archives, inkjet print