It’s a documentary about Francesca Woodman by interviewing her family and friends. It is interesting to compare her works and she as a person and an artist. From the film, she seems like an introvert and melancholy young woman, but from her parents, she is more ambitious and brave and exciting to try new ideas. Probably from her childhood, she already absorb lot’s of nutrients and thoughts from her artist parents, therefore she seems non stopped thinking.
From the document, we can see her parents’ art, too. Through, very different from Francesca’s.
Although I have seen some review of this documentary saying Betty Woodman (Francesca Woodman’s mother) is irresponsible and self-fish mother, for probably someone thinks her comparison for fame influence Francesca’s dead, I quite like her works. It’s playful, formed and deconstructed, transition between 2D’s and 3D’s, and it looks pretty much like painting on sculptures, or mix of them.
Her husband, seems have get more influence from Francesca after she died. Black and White photos and nude girls… it’s hard to not make connection with Francesca, maybe this is how he memorize his daughter. Different from Francesca, he is not the performance and the protagonist of his photos, he set up a scene, and let the models to post. He especially likes to compose the model and a/few photographs and make some connection between them.
Here I watched another documentary of photographer: Sally Mann.
She lives in a country side and she uses this big giant camera to do her shooting. At first, She mainly photoshoot her children. She asked them to post, and set up a scene. When she wanted her dog does certain things and stand in certain place, she would even smear some jam to lure it.
She started some series, taking photos of human faces. In the film, she let her model lay under her camera, and it took long time to expose the camera. Because the monochrome and the film quality, they all have some sort of “dead atmosphere", or you can call it uncanny, I supposed.
Alice made something similar in the last term. They are all a bit creepy.
Later, she even visited a cemetery, where let the dead body rot and decay naturally.
The similarities of Sally Mann and Francesca Woodman are obviously they all use black and white photography, and they all deliver uncanny atmosphere. I like both of them, but I probably more perfer Francesca’s works. However, my own practice probably more close to Sally Mann, or maybe closer to Vivian Maier.
I don’t create a scene much. I am more like observing what is there already, and use my instinct and way to describe it, just that simple.
