VANITY + CONSOLATION

© Jo Ann Walters - 01_sisters on front porch, from the series Vanity + Consolation _1988 -present © Jo Ann Walters - 02_Stella and daughter in field, from the series Vanity + Consolations _1988-present © Jo Ann Walters - 03_daughter brushing mother's hair on red settee, from the series Vanity + Consolation, 1988-present View all images ↓
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I grew up in the Middle West in a small blue-collar town on the Mississippi River. I began my portraits of women, girls, children, and their families as a way to look inward and remember and show the complexities and forcefulness of inner life.

 

Vanity + Consolation

I grew up in the Middle West in a small blue-collar town on the Mississippi River and experienced estrangement and shock as I moved farther and farther away from home. After photographing the landscape in the small villages and towns where I had once lived, I began my portraits of women, girls, children, and their families as a way to look inward and remember, to question my surroundings, and to examine what felt like a kind of homelessness. My imaginative response was to retreat inside. I rarely ventured outside homes, backyards and private gardens intent on showing the complexities and forcefulness of inner life. The landscape receded, still important and symbolic, but now becoming a ground to build character.

After all, the world I photograph remains the world of my childhood. I have tried to make pictures from this place, the place of an insider, with all of the contradictions and ambivalence this implies. The women and girls in my pictures stand in as surrogates struggling with conflict between heart and body. The challenge as I see it is to break through an ancient and nearly impenetrable surface of vanity and to seek out the small cracks, the holes and whorled places that hold our pain, our sadness and our beauty.

I understand my work much like one understands a rudimentary map. It is a modest effort to understand the diffuse and complicated scale of spirit and sensuality.

 

                                                                                                                       JW

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                

 

© Jo Ann Walters - 01_sisters on front porch, from the series Vanity + Consolation _1988 -present
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01_sisters on front porch, from the series Vanity + Consolation _1988 -present

© Jo Ann Walters - 02_Stella and daughter in field, from the series Vanity + Consolations _1988-present
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02_Stella and daughter in field, from the series Vanity + Consolations _1988-present

© Jo Ann Walters - 03_daughter brushing mother's hair on red settee, from the series Vanity + Consolation, 1988-present
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03_daughter brushing mother's hair on red settee, from the series Vanity + Consolation, 1988-present

© Jo Ann Walters - 04_Jessica in green prom dress in kitchen, from the series Vanity + Consolation, 1988-present
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04_Jessica in green prom dress in kitchen, from the series Vanity + Consolation, 1988-present

© Jo Ann Walters - 05_Caroline w hand to head holding staff, from the series Vanity + Consolations, 1988-present
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05_Caroline w hand to head holding staff, from the series Vanity + Consolations, 1988-present

© Jo Ann Walters - 06_mother and daughter in grass w blue flowers, from the series Vanity + Consolations, 1988-present
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06_mother and daughter in grass w blue flowers, from the series Vanity + Consolations, 1988-present

© Jo Ann Walters - 07_Gabriell w jewelry and bare light bulb, from the series Vanity + Consolations, 1988-present
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07_Gabriell w jewelry and bare light bulb, from the series Vanity + Consolations, 1988-present

© Jo Ann Walters - 08_teenage girl behind screen, from the series Vanity + Consolations, 1988-present
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08_teenage girl behind screen, from the series Vanity + Consolations, 1988-present

© Jo Ann Walters - 09_young girl on swing w friends in backyard, from the series Vanity + Consolations_1986- present
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09_young girl on swing w friends in backyard, from the series Vanity + Consolations_1986- present

© Jo Ann Walters - 10_girl w sister and brother on hand rail, from the series Vanity + Consolations, 1988-present
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10_girl w sister and brother on hand rail, from the series Vanity + Consolations, 1988-present

© Jo Ann Walters - 11_woman w silver hair, from the series Vanity + Consolation _1987 to ongoing
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11_woman w silver hair, from the series Vanity + Consolation _1987 to ongoing

© Jo Ann Walters - 12_three girls in willow tree, from the series Vanity + Consolation, 1988 - present
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12_three girls in willow tree, from the series Vanity + Consolation, 1988 - present

© Jo Ann Walters - 13_young woman and family in backyard, from the series Vanity + Consolations, 1988-present
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13_young woman and family in backyard, from the series Vanity + Consolations, 1988-present

© Jo Ann Walters - 14_Allison w eyelash curler, from the series Vanity + Consolations, 1988-present
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14_Allison w eyelash curler, from the series Vanity + Consolations, 1988-present

© Jo Ann Walters - 13_mother lifting daughter in pink coat, from the series Vanity + Consolations, 1988-present
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13_mother lifting daughter in pink coat, from the series Vanity + Consolations, 1988-present

© Jo Ann Walters - 16_two girls with heads back, from the series Vanity + Consolations, 1088-present
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16_two girls with heads back, from the series Vanity + Consolations, 1088-present

© Jo Ann Walters - 17_mother in green swimsuit w baby in doorway, from the series Vanity + Consolation, 1988-present
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17_mother in green swimsuit w baby in doorway, from the series Vanity + Consolation, 1988-present

© Jo Ann Walters - 18_young woman in pink dress w lamp in doorway, from the series Vanity + Consolation, 1988-present
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18_young woman in pink dress w lamp in doorway, from the series Vanity + Consolation, 1988-present

© Jo Ann Walters - 19_Andra sitting near fireplace blowing bubble, from the series Vanity + Consolation, 1988-present
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19_Andra sitting near fireplace blowing bubble, from the series Vanity + Consolation, 1988-present

© Jo Ann Walters - 19_mother and daughter in pond, from the series Vanity + Consolation, 1988-present
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19_mother and daughter in pond, from the series Vanity + Consolation, 1988-present

VANITY + CONSOLATION by Jo Ann Walters

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