Francesca Woodman was an American photographer whose work mainly focused on self-portraiture and possessed a haunting, ethereal quality.
She was born in Denver, Colorado in 1958 to George and Betty Woodman, a painter/photographer and ceramicist, respectively. Woodman studied at the Rhode Island School of Design and later the School of Design’s Rome Honors Program.
Woodman’s work, typically featuring herself nude, explored the idea of self-erasure and one’s interaction with the environment. She often focused on the surreal and mythical, using phantom-like figures, and explored long exposure, intentional blur, reflections, and shadows to emphasize – or obscure – the subject matter. Her book, Some Disordered Interior Geometries, (the only one published during her lifetime) featured photographs of herself in various states of contortion as well as sketches and handwritten notes. The book has been described as peculiar and enigmatic.
There has been growing interest in Woodman’s work since her death in 1981 and has been featured in numerous group and solo exhibitions posthumously.
Artist quote: “Am I in the picture? Am I getting in or out of it? I could be a ghost, an animal or a dead body, not just this girl standing on the corner.”