Andrea Marshall

        I am currently really digging Andrea Marshall's series Witch A BOOK OF BANANAS FORKS SPOONS + HEARTBREAK. Witch features self-portraiture photography, collage and painting, and involves what Marshall herself best describes in her artist statement;
"My work consists mainly of self-portraits that explore the Self in relation to traditional archetypal concepts of the nature of womanhood. I attempt to visually render this juxtaposition through a symbiotic dialogue between history and contemporary culture. Through a range of media, including both painting and photography, I examine internal psychological conflict through Personas reflecting the idealistic and tragic nature of the prototypical female. Through self-portraiture, syncretized with symbolic female Personae, I strive to connect, rather than isolate, the female experience and contribute to evolving, yet eternal, female imagery."

        Her Witch book is not only visually stunning, but wildly interesting. The recurrent imagery; bananas, the sexualized female form, birds/feathers, Egyptian and Christian imagery (the list goes on), begs the viewer to question everything they know historically about witches and their connection to the female identity. She hints to some of these answers in the title and last page (which is all text), but most are hidden within the images themselves.

        I believe the series is extremely effective, fitting her statement to a T and making me really think; about the female identity, history, current culture, symbolism. As an artist deeply interested in the female identity, I think I could learn a lot from her.

To see the full Witch book, as well as more of her work, take a look at her website.
and for a brief interview check out the bit BlackBook mag did on her.




images: andreamarshall.com