Riga Girls

The following is my final project for Photo 1. We were told to use any song as title and inspiration for a photo series. Below is my artist statement, followed by my photographs and the song that inspired the piece.

Women have been permanently tainted. After years of propaganda stating that plastic is perfect, we have been conditioned to cover up natural beauty with a shiny and manufactured exterior. Slightly crooked nose? There's surgery for that. Lips too thin? They can fix that too. But what happens after all of these modifications take place? Are we as females finally "beautiful?" In truth, we have become the opposite. We can not hide behind that facade forever. Eventually the same insecurities that led us to ‘fix’ ourselves will resurface and the straightest nose in the world isn't going to bring solace.
Through a series of photographs, I attempted to represent the effects of the inadequacy women see in themselves. The storyline was inspired by a song titled Riga Girls by The Weepies. Just as the Riga Girls of the song, the women in my photographs can't "learn to love what [was] sent from up above." Perpetually disecting what they were given and longing for what they weren’t, they convince themselves that perfect beauty will bring them comfort. However, caught in moments of time, their expressions and gesture betray them. Each one is caught in a state of longing, insecurity or act of comparison. Even after her “transformation” she still can’t seem to fit perfectly into the frame. Her face sits askew in the picture of perfection.

love.lauryn.