Hannah Starkey - Photographs 1997-2007

Selection of images from Hannah Starkey’s 2007 book, Photographs 1997-2007. This is one of my all time favorite photographers. I’ve reread the interview at the back of the book so many times over the years. It’s so helpful to hear an artist speak on their work and their process. Looking forward to her next book!

“Hannah Starkey’s early works were staged photography scenarios based on the experiences of young women living in the contemporary city. Meticulously constructed and often cinematic, they suggest a narrative that had been artificially suspended in time.”

Interview excerpt:

Your pictures involve a complicated construction process that involves actresses, models and sets. How did you arrive at this way of working?

HS: Well, there is a very basic reason for it. I didn’t feel I had the right to point the camera at someone without asking permission. And once you ask permission, you disrupt the scene. I would rather experience that instantaneous moment and then photograph it. I suppose I distill the essence of a scene, cast it and recreate a small aspect of it. I am interested in redefining the real, and staged photography seems to allow for an interpretation of the real-real time and how it is experienced both internally and externally. It reinforces our perception of ourselves in relation to the outside world.