DMS103 Photography Project

If you look a photos of classical musicians 50 years ago today, 100% of them would be males. Just like other fields of work, the music industry has been slow to accept woman among the ranks of men. Even when sexism became less as society developed, instrument stereotypes stuck. The bigger and lower an instrument is, the more likely it is to be played by a man. Sticks and playing loud? Men. Small and dainty? Women. High pitched and light? Women.

Since I am a feminist and have an extreme passion for classical music, I decided to make my theme for this photo project be all about “Women in Music.”

Through my photos of Eastman music students, I tried to illustrate these stereotypes persistent today. I wanted to capture the confidence and perseverance women have for pursuing an instrument where the majority is male. I also wanted to capture the rare happenings when there are more women than men in a section.

So I emailed Eastman professors of the male-dominated ensembles to see if I could sit in on their studio classes and take pictures. A few of them said yes, and I was able to take pictures of the women in the group quietly from the back of the classroom. In order to create more varied photos from the classroom aesthetic, I looked for smaller groups where I could stage their posing. Luckily my availability overlapped with a string quartet featuring 3 females and 1 male, and I was able to finally do a photoshoot where I could do more creative camera tricks and angles.

When looking at my photos, I hope people are able to feel the presence of the females strongly. One photo is empowering, another one shockingly sexist, and the others, isolated. I look forward to the day that females and males are completely 50/50 in all instrumental sections.

Posters

For my PSA posters, I wanted to promote a female music group called Dreamcatcher and how they are changing the music industry through their unique music, group concept and choreography. Before this music group, girl groups in the Korean music industry gained popularity by either “selling their bodies” through overly sexual concepts, or being overwhelmingly cute. Lyrics would be always be a theme of “needing a man” or “longing for someone to support them.” They never got the same concepts as boy groups, who were able to pull off a huge range of concepts and creative (not always love-story related) lyrics.

Dreamcatcher is the first girl group in the industry to be treated like a boy group. They get dark, scary concepts, and loud, fast-paced punk rock music. Their choreography is actually complex and powerful, much harder than any other girl group choreography. I feel like Dreamcatcher’s company is promoting feminism through Dreamcatcher, and is allowing them to pave the way for younger girl groups to follow.

These 3 PSA posters are based on 3 of Dreamcatcher’s albums:

1. The End of Nightmare ( themes of defeating nightmare’s and safely escaping to reality)

2. Nightmare (the main theme is that the girls are nightmare’s themselves, and defend themselves against a “witch-hunter”)

3. Prequel (to the Nightmare) (the story of how the girls transitioned from innocent humans to nightmares)

With these 3 different “moods,” (and connecting imagery of the female symbol and of a dream catcher between the 3 posters), I am hoping to hint at the variety this fresh new girl group can pull off.