Vanessa Fairfax-Woods

With my work I try to give women a chance to play: a chance often denied to women who instead, from a young age, are encouraged into roles of mothers, lovers, daughters, etc. In my work I like to create a unique space for women to explore, celebrate and even gently mock their own identities – not for the benefit of the male gaze, nor to conform to stereotypes, but simply for the fun of it all. My subjects play with the camera, and subvert expectations, appearing simultaneously glamorous and funny, strong and girlish. Women have a sense of humour, an appetite, a sense of play, a ‘cheek’, can be sexy, can be ugly, can be powerful, can be vulnerable.