>>REVIEW
ORANGE GIRL: THE SELF-PORTRAITS OF KIRSTIE TWEED
Runs until April 30
Uppercase Gallery (Art Central)
Kirstie Tweed is a photographer with multiple personalities.
Curler, housewife, mother, waitress and lover: she assumes all of these personas in front of the camera in an exhibition of her work at the Uppercase Gallery, entitled Orange Girl: The Self-Portraits of Kirstie Tweed.
A graduate of Alberta College of Art and Design, Tweed is based in Canmore, where she works as a portrait/commercial/wedding/dog photographer. As a jack-of-all-trades it’s not surprising that Tweed is drawn to a world where she can adopt the personalities of a truly diverse range of characters.
Technically well executed, some of the best pieces in this exhibition are when Tweed is not so obviously performing a shtick in front of the camera. Many of her photographs are a visual satire of stereotypical characters, but they often work better when that premise has been blunted. One photograph that takes a more "cut-to-the-bone" approach is the exhibition’s signature image of Tweed as a curler.
By minimizing the elements of satire in this image, her character begins to uncover this country’s deep connections to its European roots. Dressed in a plaid skirt and wearing a tam, the figure is symbolic of many women who took up one of Canada’s favourite winter sports in order to escape the full-time drudgery of being a 1950s housewife.
Another image that taps into this vein of honesty is the photograph of Tweed playing a seemingly lonely housewife. In an orange robe, she stares forlornly out at the camera, pondering the state of her life over a cup of coffee and two eggs, sunny-side up. It’s an image that works because the loneliness in her eyes seems real.
New York City-based photographer Cindy Sherman has managed to turn the self-portrait genre into a searing examination of America by portraying some of society’s most vulnerable characters. And it’s that kind of honesty that could help elevate Tweed’s photographs from merely being funny or cute to works that tell us something about the women she depicts.
Instead of hamming it up for the camera, Tweed might want to consider merely existing in front of the lens that she points at herself. Then her journey into the world of the "other" could produce a collection of photographs that have the potential to consistently take on more meaning.
If Tweed wants us to understand the characters that she presents, she must first inhabit the intimate place where they live. Without that, all that’s left in front of the lens is Kirstie Tweed – an obviously talented photographer just playing herself. |
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