Vicky Martin is an international award-winning fine art professional photographer from the UK. Her first introduction to photography was whilst studying art and design at college in the 90s, she fell completely in love and found it to be a natural fit creatively, realising that this was what she wanted to do with her life she went on to dedicate her studies to photography. Initially, she started out photographing in black and white but later moved on to colour and now tries to utilise the colour in her photographs to benefit the overall narrative. Since 2008 after Martin was awarded a prestigious bursary she has been developing her professional career in photography.
Throughout Martin’s photography, she explores her fascination with identity and the emotions that are evoked by scenarios that are based on both fantasy and reality. She finds inspiration in strong female characters whether from literature, film or everyday life. Martin intertwines her created characters with staged realities, which seek to convey the tension and conflicts found within the self. Throughout her work, she likes to express recurring themes that she is drawn to, which include: conformity to the stereotypical, individual and societal expectations of femininity, vulnerability and self-doubt. Whilst all her works contribute to the narrative framework developed across her series’s, they also each depict an element of ambiguity that the viewer is invited to interpret in relation to themselves and their unique perception of the world.
Self-taught or art school?
I studied photography in the 1990s, which included training in the traditional method of analogue photography. Although I really enjoy the challenge of the darkroom and the quality of the prints produced through it, I had to turn from black and white to digital and colour photography from 2007 onwards to allow myself to not be limited in what I could create. I’ve had to retrain myself on how to use digital cameras and how to digitally develop an image, and all that comes with processing in Photoshop (certainly no easy feat!), which, even now, I continue to develop my skills in. I find photographing in colour completely different to black and white, and I love the challenges that come with photographing in colour.
If you could own one work of art what would it be?
I admire and am inspired by many photographers, but I would particularly love to collect anything by Edward Steichen.
How would you describe your style?
Narrative fine art photography.
Can you tell us about your artistic process?
It depends on each photograph: I can have an initial idea that will not come to fruition for several weeks as I think through how to achieve the image in my mind. If I have to scout the location, source materials, and make the costume / props, it can be a long process to get to the finished photograph. I am very much hands-on and resourceful, and I make props and some of the more elaborate outfits in my photographs (in fact I made the shoes for my series Not In Kansas). I must give a lot of consideration to outfits, colours, and how everything will work together, as the crucial stage in conceptualising how to take single image ideas and develop them into a series.
Is narrative important within your work?
The narrative is crucial to all my photographs. Before I embark upon a new series, I really need to determine what story I want to tell not only within each individual image but also throughout the series as a whole. I put a lot of thought into what colour, composition and location I will use in each image in order to capture the precise moment I’m looking for, and so narrative is not only incredibly important to the story I want to share with the viewer, but also requires a lot of hard work! In particular, I seek to create narratives that blur the boundaries between fantasy and reality yet are still grounded and relatable to our modern-day society, and give voice to the struggles faced within it.
Who are your favourite artists and why?
Edward Steichen, Cindy Sherman and Gregory Crewdson. I love the way that Edward
Steichen photographs, he had such a precise eye for lighting and design in his portraits.
Cindy Sherman is a master of the self-portrait; she creates characters with such narrative and depth. I admire immensely Gregory Crewdson’s cinematic style: the elaborately detailed sets of American homes, interiors, and neighbourhoods, which all have a tension between a before and after narrative moment.
What or who inspires your art?
I am inspired by strong female characters whether from film, literature of everyday life. Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz is very empowering to me, as she was one of the first strong female characters I was introduced to who didn’t conform to the archetype of the damsel in distress waiting for a knight in shining armour to save her: she used her brain, courage and heart to save both herself and her friends. I have also taken inspiration from Alice in Wonderland and Great Expectations: the tension between fantasy and reality that informs all of these texts is a strong influence on my creative expression. I think that the female characters particularly inspired me (whether they are tenacious like Dorothy, curious like Alice or, haunted by the injustices of a patriarchal society like Miss Havisham) as they embody values and emotions that are, to a certain extent, universal to the female experience. More recently, my series Hollywoodland explores my endless fascination with classical Hollywood cinema, especially in relation to the role of women within society that is propagated through the silver screen.
Where’s your studio and what’s it like?
My studio is located close to my home in the UK (and currently undergoing some renovations). It is a great space for producing my series that doesn’t require me to be on location and, a place completed dedicated to my passion.
Do you have any studio rituals?
I wouldn’t say that I have any superstitious rituals, but a cup of tea is definitely required after each session in the studio!
What are you working on currently?
I am currently working on a series of portrait photographs, entitled Hollywoodland, that convey both the aesthetics of the era and the deeper issues of gender that began to surface particularly within the 1950s and 1960s.
Where can we buy your art?
My photographs are sold in limited edition prints from The CAMP gallery, Fotonostrum Gallery, Joseph and James Gallery and No Middleman Art Gallery.
For more information visit https://www.vickymartinphoto.co.uk
Vicky is also exhibiting in The FLUX Review V1 – Virtual Exhibition.
