There is a lot to look at in both this year’s PDN 30 and Photo Boite’s ‘30 Under 30′ Women Photographers, and most of it is of interest. And if you’ve not done so previously you can also look at the four previous years selections.
I’m not sure what it means that there are relatively few photographers from this or previous years whose names are familiar. Perhaps it means there are just so many interesting young women photographers, but looking back at similar lists such as the ‘PDN’s 30: New and Emerging Photographers to Watch’ from previous years – such as 2010 – there are rather more names I now recognise – and even more women.
Of course the PDN feature has been running for 15 years while ’30 Under 30′ is relatively new, only in its fifth year. And the two operate in different ways, PDN relying on nominations by photo editors, art directors, curators, educators and fellow photographers around the world, with some invited to submit based on work seen in promotions, portfolio reviews or photo contests.
Twelve out of the 31 photographers featured in PDN’s list (it includes a husband a wife team) are women, so perhaps the introduction to 30 Under 30, with its emphasis on the traditional gender role of women in photography is outdated or at least overstated:
“Photography, whether we like to admit it or not, is by and large a male-dominated arena, where the ‘looking’ is a masculine act, and the subject is feminine, playing the role of ‘looked-at’ and admired mainly for their outward appearance. Photography, then, has been a mirror for conventional gender roles in western society.”
It seems to me to be more a commentary on the persistent gender stereotypes in advertisements rather than an accurate reflection of the state of photography. In my years as a teacher of photography, in a school and a college I almost always had more female than male students in my classes, and most of my better students were female. And although there are more men than women among the photographers I know and meet while working, many of the best and most successful are women.
But I welcome anything which gives us a chance to look at some fine photography – whether by women or men, and I’ll come back to both these rather different sets of work and enjoy them – and wish all those concerned a successful future in photography.