Heather Bennett
This body of work is intended to simultaneously picture the ridiculous, one-dimensional stereotype of female friendship that is so pervasively reflected in contemporary portraits and the nuanced depth of the relationships I actually experience. The photograph, Pine Valley, 2017, is my first attempt to marry this opposing duality in a single image. The styling and aesthetic of the photograph riffs off of the 80’s cult classic film, Heathers, which at its center depicts four female protagonists whose relationships are epitomized by hyperbole and hysteria. The two women in Pine Valley (myself and writer Jen Logan Meyer) are situated in a privileged country club scene done up to absurdity in 80’s style, one wearing a necklace which reads, Heather, in gold script, posing as a classic example of one-dimensional fictional descent. However, it is their bold, unapologetic gesture that acts as a rupture in the midst of this caricature. The women are holding hands solemnly, staring straight into the camera, somewhat confrontationally, without a trace of embarrassment at the sexualized absurdity of their get-ups. The gesture transcends the assumption and reduction of their character and they emerge, fortified and defiant, linked.
With this work I ask: How do we retain our interiority, individuality, originality, wholeness and wildness if our stories are constantly told in one-dimension; without nuance, contradiction and humor, how are we to live and breathe?