Friday 31 July 2009

Friday 31st July: Clare Shilland



Naomi Attwood at Clare Shilland ‘Girls! Girls! Girls!’ exhibition at House of Propellers Gallery

 

Fashion photographer Clare Shilland, who shoots for the likes of i-D10 and Lula is celebrating the opening of her first solo exhibition of art photos tonight at the House of Propellers Gallery in EC1R. I’ve risked life and delicate limb amongst the cyclists of Farringdon to come and have a look at her pictures.

 

 

The exhibition is a mixture of female drummers captured in action – as well as a series of female nudes. In the grand tradition of photographers such as Nan Goldin or Corrine Day she’s turned to her immediate circle of friends for inspiration, and as with all good personal photography you can see a sort of tenderness come through in the pictures.  The girls are all very real, some looking into the lens and some away, but they all seem strong. Not in a feisty, dominatrix way but just natural and confident in themselves.

 

 

In fashion photography, women are rarely depicted in poses other pouting and primping submissively, and in these portraits Shilland has successfully presented an alternative feminine ideal. They’re stunning.

 

Naomi Attwood 

Photography courtesy of the gallery with thanks







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