The vivid photography of Francesca Woodman

Untitled, Providence, Rhode Island, 1976

Francesca Woodman’s photographs stop you dead in your tracks. Her simple images resonate and linger in memory and dreams long after they have been seen. There is something familiar and unknown in equal parts. She often used her own body as a prop and placed herself in the frame to great effect. The mark she leaves is indelible. Sadly she committed suicide when she was 22 and her early departure from this world leaves a sense of deep loss and regret at the masterpieces not created. An empty room, a naked woman sitting on a chair in Mary Janes, the dissolving woman’s figure staining the floorboards, all seen through the her confident lens. She perhaps of all photographers truly make the words of Joseph Campbell ring true.

“The work of the artist is to present objects to you in a way that they will shine. Through the rhythm of the artists formation, the object that you have looked at with indifference will be radiant, and you will be fixed in esthetic arrest.”