UNIT 3- Compare and Contrast essay

Laurie Simmons- "Blonde/Red Dress/Kitchen/Milk 1978"

Linder Stirling- "Untitled 1976"

Laurie Simmons has explained that 'setting up small rooms with dolls in them was a way for me to experience photography without taking my camera out to the street. I felt that I could set up my own world around me...'in each of these images a  housewife is shown alone and there is a sense of the pathos and loneliness of domestic life. Simmons spent her childhood in suburban Long Island in the 1950's, an environment she calls both 'beautiful' and 'lethal', and has said these photographs share 'a feeling, a mood, from the time i was growing up'. -Tate Modern.

Linder Stirling's photomontages combine images from women's magazines and pornography to make powerful feminist statements, de-constructing media representations of women as ideals of femininity in the home or as consumable objects of male desire. She made them while studying graphic design in Manchester, where she was involved in the punk scene. - Tate Modern.

Laurie Simmons was born in 1949, USA. Her work is titled Blonde/Red Dress/Kitchen/Milk, 1978. The title is very self explanatory, along with Simmons' quote from the Tate Modern. The photo shows a woman (doll) in a kitchen, surrounded by foodstuffs and mess on the table. The woman appears to be looking at the mess, as if she is going to be the one cleaning or making a meal, it shows the stereotypical woman's role. There is a birds eye view angle to the photo, which makes you look down on the photo. I think Simmons done this either so you can see the full detail of the photo, for example everything that's on the table. Or because we are looking down on the woman, symbolic as she has a lot on her shoulders (cleaning, cooking), and we represent the weight, or the eyes on her, making the domestic house wife stressed or pressured. This is a common feeling among some women, when work and typical chores add up around the home, which Simmons may have been portraying.
Linder Stirling was born in 1954, Britain. Her photo is called 'Untitled 1976'. Stirling's photo is a collection of cut outs from magazines, montaged into one photo. Stirling has said that the cut outs are from a collection of pornography and women's magazines. This symbolises the pressure of the media on the woman to be 'ideal'. In the photo you can see a woman in lingerie, with a vacuum cleaner with eyes and a mouth for a head. This alone shows the man's ideal woman's figure and choice of underwear, while the vacuum cleaner shows the woman's role as a housewife. In the background of a bedroom, you see a camera on the dressing table, which takes up a lot of the photo. Once again this shows the pornography element of the photo, and the pressure of a woman to look perfect for a man. Stirling makes a very feminist statement in her photomontages, showing her annoyance and disgrace with how women are desired to be by the media.

Both artists photos are from the same period, the 70's, so may have been influenced by similar events of the time. Both photos have the same theme of the woman's role and image, while Stirling looks at the image side, Simmons focuses on the woman's role in the home. Both women may be expressing a feminist statement, of their disagreement with the pressures of women to act and look 'perfect'. Simmons stated that she enjoys being able to construct her own scene, without having to take her camera onto the street. Similarly, Stirling has created her own photo from magazine cut-outs, so once again not having to take her camera out onto the street. The construction of the photos are different, even though they are self-constructed, Stirling's involves paper, positioned and photographed. Whereas Simmons positioned objects with a doll and then shot, which you can experiment with angles and lighting, whereas photomontage limits you to do so.

What I like most about the photographs is the self-creation, without having to use human models or an outside environment. I can also perfectly create what you want or the idea you can see in your head. I can also experiment with angles and lighting, to make the setting look more lifelike. If I were to produce a response, i will use a set of a home, with several different rooms, using dolls of a family to portray the 'typical' and 'perfect' family life. During the development of my idea, I will use Stirling's concept of montage, by pasting on magazine cut-outs in the desired area, to further emphasise the 'ideal' family.

Overall, both artists have constructed their photos by using a self-made environment or ready-made materials. Both photos symbolise the idealistic woman, from a feminist point of view, from the way they have been constructed. The use of magazine cut outs, enables you to be able to point your point across easier, while being able to experiment with layouts, whilst also making the photo look surreal. Being able to create small scenes, using dolls and miniature furniture also enables you to create exactly what you desire, without having to worry about an outside environment and life models. From this, my definition of constructed imagery is a photo which combines self-made or ready-made materials/scenes, to create a surreal scene, whilst being careful not to make the photo too unrealistic. This can be done either through the use of photo shop or by placing objects into the photo yourself.