Women and Freedom

The following photographs were part of a semester-long project I completed in the spring for my photography class. Using friends as my "models," we went out into the fields and dirt roads behind our school, right on the edge where the town ends and the hills and farms begin. We discovered an antique car lot, filled with forgotten vehicles from days long gone.

What you cannot see in these photographs are the rich yellow of the mustard flower scattering the meadows, the rusty green of the car fender, or even the rich folds of red and blue within the American flag.

But the flag does not require color; it's an iconic symbol of our country, recognizable even without hue. And the black and white tones of each frame--coupled with my stylistic choice to crop out subjects' eyes--hint towards a bit of mystery. I wanted to leave the young women ambiguous. They are every-women in todays world, with strengths, opinions, desires, and even boyfriends in the military overseas. What the flag means, and moreover, what "freedom" means to each of them will be entirely idiosyncratic.

This rings true for all of us: we each perceive the flag in distinctive ways--anger, indifference,or complete pride and reverence. Freedom, at its root, is an individual concept that has a powerful potential to bond us together.

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