These collages, constructed from historical and pop-culture archival imagery, relate to Many intersectional feminist concerns; such as gaze, commodification, and agency as it relates to women and their bodies.The use of archival imagery is representative of the ways in which mainstream cultural memory contributes to thesocialization of gender and the erasure of opposition to gender norms throughoutgenerations. I am interested in the way grouping images can help them take on a new significance and our tendency to believe what we see within the frame of a photo as true. The images are layered in order to produce a conversation focused on the socialization and performance of femininity. These pieces specifically focus on motherhood, the contrast between activity and passivity, and normative standards of beauty. Layering also directs the viewer’s gaze within the frame, adding to the sense of the images believably existing within the same space.
Biography
Sydney Ellison is a Brooklyn-based artist whose work addresses themes of gaze and intersectionality primarily through collage and self-portraiture. Sydney is also a student at Pratt Institute and an editor for The Photographer's Greenbook.