your friend, ava

Thursday, September 10, 2015

I'll cry if I want to

I realize it's been a super long time since I've posted to this here blog. I admit, I've never been the best at social media. In fact, it annoys the hell out of me. I'd rather be cleaning the apartment, or taking a walk, or on the phone with a dear friend. The thought of posting something makes me anxious. I don't even think anyone uses blogger anymore, but that's just me being negative. Something positive has happened and I felt it would be a disservice to limit this news to only Facebook. So, dear beauties, some new work of mine will be up on the walls at Human Resources this time next week!

I should be hanging out at Human Resources more often. If you haven't been, it is an amazing event space in Chinatown. They throw all kinds of events, to interactive art, band performances, visual art, film, etc. Next week's show (wish it was more than one night) is a tribute show dedicated to girl groups from the 1950s & 60s! Curated by Daiana Feuer. Click here for more info. ps: My friend, Taylor, from The Windmills of Your Mind on KXLU will be djing!

Before I found out about this show (thank you internet), I had this idea burning in my head about a rebel school girl project. I had shot this image of my friend, Rachel, of Movable Magazine. This was our first time hanging out in person after she had traveled cross country from Road Island to live in Los Angeles.

I liked the idea of photographing her in a school yard, and I've been wanting to do a series again for some time. We talked about doing her hair up in a beehive and giving her some thick cat eye. The leather jacket, smokes…the whole thing. Sounds silly, but finding out about this show was serendipitous. It was the push I needed to get this series rolling.

Lots of influences came to mind. Of course, girl groups like, The Shangri-Las & The Shirelles, but also shoegaze -lots of repeat listening to honey power (that outro… absolutely beautiful), John Water's Female Trouble, heart ache, longing, unrequited love, Scorpio Rising (surprised they have this so easy to watch -probably won't be for long, so…. ENJOY at your own risk!!!), total boredom, that idea of the little girl lost, tough broads with soft hearts….

Sneak peak: I was searching the web for inspiration before my shoot & came across this photograph.