Feminist

(The Exhibition is over…)

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In photographic series “Feminist”, Catrine Val focuses on the contemporary vision of women, role of a strong, capable femme, as life demands her to be. And at the same time photographer criticizes a flood of narcissism and an obsessive cult of self-expression.Fashion and the way it is presented in the media, increasingly govern our everyday lives. In precisely executed self-portraits, Val is not seeking to represent herself, but tries to replicate generic archetypes of woman. For each shot she uses different clothes, wigs, make-up and each time reworks the identities, appropriates new roles for new images. Externally resembling to fashion photography, works of Val in fact are criticism of fashion and advertising. Intentionally choosing apparel of her mother, aunt, husband or outgrown clothes of her children, even variety of household objects, artist wears them in the way that they look very fashionable. That’s how Val reaches the advertising’s effect, at the same time showing clearly that she aims to give the absurdity to the frontline. Val’s images are visually as perfect, as they are disturbing. Often, the the model or its attitude does not look “at home” in the adapted surroundings: motley dress, yellow rubber gloves perfectly fits with sausages and hams, yellow price cards in store; blue shirt and hat, blue huge feather in hands, no pants, but with high-heels and plumy pose with blue trucks in a background. Ultimately, Catrine Val does creates some of the glamour, requested from a contemporary woman, but the glamour fades in the blast of the ironic parody.

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Catrine Val

was born in Cologne, Germany. She started her career in Vienna, Austria working in commercial advertising design, but then left this to study fine art at Kunsthochschule in Kassel, Germany. After graduating, she worked for 6 years as teaching assistant of Bjørn Melhus in the field of virtual reality, further developing her artistic position.

Val has exhibited widely across Europe and in Taiwan. In 2012, she was shortlisted for the Renaissance Photography prize and was also a runner-up for the KAUNAS PHOTO STAR 2012 award. Her recent project Feminist has been made in to a hardback book, published in 2012 by Kehrer, Germany and was nominated for the German Fotobuchpreis 2013.

Watch the video about the exhibition >

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