Images: Frank Yamrus, from the “Rapture” series. (From left to right: “Adrianne,” “Jennifer,” “Del,” “Dede,” and “Astrid.” Gelatin silver prints, 24 x 20 inches, each.

“Princesses,” an exhibition part of Warsaw Photo Days in Warsaw, Poland, features work by Frank Yamrus from his “Rapture” series. The exhibition will open on October 4, 2013 with a reception at 6.00 p.m., and will continue through October 27, 2013.

The multimedia exhibition aims at presenting video and photographs by artists from Singapore, Japan, the United States, Germany, Canada, the UK, Finland, and Poland. The common thread linking all the works displayed at the exhibition is an attempt to capture the image of the modern woman-as-princess. In this image, myth and fashion, aloofness and spontaneity, identity and identity crisis converge and intertwine.

Modern women are involved in the canons and conventions of pop culture, doomed to a readymade identity and disguise. The world of princesses is an ironic adaptation and, at the same time, a denunciation of the canonized stereotype of female beauty.

The view of femininity presented by the artists is torn between the cultural archetype and the desire to overstep its boundaries in pursuit of individuation, between an imposed model and the craving for authenticity. Thus one may observe here various aspects of the “girlization” of women—a consequence of the suspension between the cult of youth depicted in presentations of an adult woman and the so-called Lolita effect involving younger and younger girls.

Warsaw Photo Days festival was initiated by the Association of Polish Artists Photographers (ZPAF, Warsaw District) in 2013. This is its first year.  It is planned to be a place for meetings and for the presentation of various forms of photography, both from historical and contemporary perspectives.

New Space (Nowe Miejsce)
Jerozolimskie Av. 51/2
Warsaw, Poland

Read more about Warsaw Photo Days Festival

See Frank Yamrus’ series, “Rapture”
Browse all of Frank Yamrus’ work at ClampArt

Blog post by:
Keavy Handley-Byrne, Intern