FRACTURED

PORTFOLIO SERIES 2011

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The poor self-image that many women hold results from their distortion of their own reflection. Water and the camera can reflect this. I was thinking of substance abuse, when hearing of Whitney Houston’s death in a hotel bath, along with many other celebrities and wealthy socialites who have over indulged in drugs and alcohol causing sudden deaths. I started working on the idea of the ‘valley of the dolls’- the story of three women whose lives are ruined by barbiturates. In the book, a doll is a slang term for drugs/ sleeping pills. I began to think about how woman are restricted by the myths that are constructed in society and how women should behave and look which led me onto the series of fairy tale depictions of urban women today.