I discovered feminism through photography. Whilst my beliefs were already set in place, I never had a label for it. I was dissatisfied with the same landscapes and “indie” object photography that my college regurgitated at me every lecture, and decided that I was going to do something different.
Growing up in Wales, we aren’t the most progressive when it comes to equality. Life is slow here, and nobody likes change. So when I produced my first set of images showing two pairs of underwear with pubic hair spewing out, my lecturer was a little shocked. More than a little shocked– she hated it. However, I am a little stubborn, so I kept going anyway. I knew I had made the right choice.
For my final unit, I decided to focus on intersectionality within feminism. I realised that many of my pieces lacked the diversity that justified it. So, I dedicated my unit to exploring intersectionality and trying to piece it together in photographs. I interviewed each of the individuals about various different topics, and then took a quote from this interview and layered it over a portrait of the individual. I wanted to highlight individuals within feminism, and how we have to look at feminism from different angles, rather than just face on. I discovered thoughts and feelings that I wouldn’t have stumbled across in everyday conversation, and I developed a greater understanding of not only the individuals I photographed, but my own feminism as well.
