VICKY MARTIN | HOLLYWOODLAND

HOLLYWOODLAND
By Vicky Martin

“Hollywoodland is a series of self-portrait photographs that convey both the aesthetics of the era and the deeper issues of gender that began to surface, particularly within the 1950s and 1960s.”

My endless fascination with classical Hollywood cinema, and the role of women within society propagated through the silver screen, has inspired this series.
I started to shoot this series during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 under lockdown restrictions. I felt that my own sense of claustrophobia at the restrictions being imposed mapped onto the social boundaries encountered by the women depicted in some of my favorite golden age films.

Hollywoodland is a series of self-portrait photographs that convey both the aesthetics of the era and the deeper issues of gender that began to surface, particularly within the 1950s and 1960s.
The protagonist within the series emulates the ideal of the Hollywood blonde, who was made desirable by the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly, and Lana Turner, among others, manipulating her natural image to conform to male perceptions of beauty, as after all “Gentlemen prefer blondes.”
All of the images were set up and photographed in my studio. Careful consideration was taken with the controlled studio lighting of each picture, the selection of colors, outfits, props, and overall tone, all of which were informed by studying some of the era’s most iconic films, such as North by Northwest, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Rear Window.

“The protagonist within the series emulates the ideal of the Hollywood blonde, who was made desirable by the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly, and Lana Turner, among others, manipulating her natural image to conform to male perceptions of beauty, as after all “Gentlemen prefer blondes.”

Each photograph contains the clapperboard, which offers a playfully provocative comment upon both the film it references and the photograph itself. Each film title is taken from cinema’s golden era, simultaneously adding meaning and ambiguity to the emotions conveyed visually by the protagonist. She is acting out roles perceived as necessary to the female, albeit in a glamorous, stylized way informed by the fictional lives of women seen on the screen.
During the golden age of Hollywood, women were led to pursue unattainable ideals of beauty, of femininity, and their domestic role within society, which inevitably led to feelings of confusion of inferiority (both towards men and their own natural beauty) and of unfulfillment. I intend to convey the overwhelming social pressure to conform to such ideals, glamorized by cinema and thereby internalized by the female.

Vicky Martin

Vicky Martin is an award-winning British photographer with a background in art and design. She is best known for her conceptual portraits depicting the conflict between themes of fantasy and reality and strength and vulnerability, especially in relation to the female experience.

Vicky intertwines her created characters with staged realities, which seek to convey the tension and conflicts found within the self. Throughout her work, she likes to explore, through strong female characters, recurring themes that she is drawn to conformity to the stereotypical, individual, and societal expectations of femininity, vulnerability, and self-doubt. While all her works contribute to the narrative framework developed across her series’, they also each depict an element of ambiguity that the viewer is invited to interpret in relation to themselves and their unique perception of the world.
Her work has been widely published and exhibited nationally and internationally in solo, and group shows from Europe to the USA.

Martin’s work continues to garner many awards and nominations, including the Portrait Photographer of The Year 2020 at the Minimalist Photography Awards, Finalist at the Lensculture Art Photography Awards 2019, Winner of the Professional Beauty and Fashion Category at the Chromatic Awards 2018, Winner of the All About Photo Magazine Colors issue 2018, Winner of the Single Image in the Professional Fine Art Category at the 12th Julia Margaret Cameron Awards 2018 and Winner of the Professional Fine Art Series at 2016 Fine Art Photography Awards.

See the full article in Lens Magazine Issue #100