Photo: Senior Thesis Exhibition 2018 by Luke Wynne.

Senior Thesis Exhibition 2020

Savanna Paxton

Hometown: Bloomingburg, New York

Major: Studio art with a concentration in photography

Video work: vimeo.com/user109790588.

My work is focused on experimental photography, using alternative processes, traditional black-and-white darkroom practices, and pinhole photography to create both still and moving photographic images. I am interested in video works that exemplify the normal everyday things people do, such as dancing in their rooms, taking a shower, or cooking.

My current project, Behind Every Woman, addresses the question of how to capture and honor the relationships I share with strong and influential women in my life. To start, I researched traditional portraiture, studio lighting techniques, and great female artists. I chose to focus my research primarily on female artists because it was important to me that I viewed portraiture from a woman’s perspective about women. Women have a gentler touch when photographing, and I have learned that we tend to focus on inner beauty rather than on outer beauty. I believe that women tend to form supportive “tribes” that help to shape the individuals involved. My goal is to elevate the women in my “tribe” and communicate to the world their impact on me.

This project features six 13-by-20-inch color inkjet portraits of important women in my life that are matted on 20-by-24-inch white presentation mat board. When hung for exhibition, these prints are mounted 2 inches off the wall and surround a cinematographic self-portrait. This self-portrait is a video of me dancing freely in my studio space. This series tackles the importance of female relationships and their impacts on those involved. When I photographed my subjects, my only guiding direction came from my question to them, “If you were president, how would you like your portrait to look?” It was important to me that my subjects had some control when being photographed in order to maintain individuality. I was inspired by the striking difference and individuality shown in early portraits made by artists such as Imogen Cunningham and Nadar. When open for exhibition, visitors will leave with a handmade zine featuring the images in the show accompanied by handwritten letters about the women pictured and their impact on me.