‘Now That We’re Grown-ups’ observes the issues facing women that are most prevalent in the twenty-first century. Protecting equality and future generations is a prominent ethos of today’s society, and therefore a rise in vices and self-abuse seems an unexpected by-product. This ethos has affected both sexes, as equality has not come about simply by lowering prejudices, but of merging the genders together; for men it is addressing their feminine side, and for women it is competing in fields that were traditionally masculine. However, although outwardly this change is effective, psychological and evolutionary changes do not occur as quickly as social and political change; women are still programmed to consider that maintaining their feminine attributes, in physical appearance and virtue, is of great importance to their success. This is intensified further by the current surge of tabloid media so saturated with brutal opinions on these issues. Therefore, although outwardly society seems to be progressive, this correlation with abuse statistics is perhaps less inconsistent, and a female retreat into isolation to mask vices and the subsequent guilt and sadness this brings is almost inevitable. As taboos are quantified not by the issues themselves but how they are publicised in that given week, hiding one’s supposed discrepancies seems the only option for avoiding a sensation of failure.
This project has developed from an interest in human psychology as well as a passion for cinema. Film stills have a different aesthetic to photography; they are not intended as captured moments, they are paused, yet charged with activity. They can be indicative of a much longer narrative and entire back history for the characters portrayed. Although these images attempt to be honest portrayals rather than depicting melodrama or caricatures, the cinematic aesthetic produces a furtive energy and a voyeuristic gaze, which exaggerates her need to retreat in order to pervade an incessant and critical audience.