Anna Gaskell

Anna Gaskell

I first heard of Gaskell during a lecture for my upcoming project. I really the innocence of her work and how she takes the audience into a fantasy land. The photographs I have chosen are from Gaskell’s ‘Wonder series’. The Wonder series has a linear narrative this is shown through the clear evidence of storytelling in which the models are in the same setting wear the same clothing. Gaskell’s models are girls, which gives the series innocence, which wear identical ‘young looking’ dresses. The pastel colours in the clothing also add to this. The outfits and setting remind me of the children’s film ‘Alice in Wonderland’, this could have been an inspiration for the name of the series ‘Wonderland series’. It almost seems as the series is a reflection of Gaskell’s own childhood and progression to adolescence. The first photograph is my favourite of the series it reminds me of childhood and doing things I wasn’t meant to do. The girls look as if they have been asked to stay there and the girl featured can’t help but look in the direction not shown in the photograph. This makes me curious as to what exactly is happening on the other side of the frame. I love the light pushing slightly through the trees is beautiful and gives the photograph a softer composition; it also works nicely with the added artificial lighting. The second photograph really shows the fantasy element of the series as we wouldn’t expect to see a scene like this. The legs seem to be kicking as there is a shoe on the floor which could suggest either danger or the girls having fun. The legs look as if they come from one big dress; I like this surreal element in her work. This photograph was taken from a bird’s eye view looking down on the girls and I think it works really well. Gaskell’s use of cropping is very interesting especially on the third photograph where the girl featured is not fully in the frame. In this particular photograph Gaskell makes the audience sympathise for the girl with the angle of the photograph, at her level. This photograph would associate with a teenage audience as it is a popular way of shooting. I like the depth of field here it keeps the focus on the girl featured. This photograph is unusual as the girl is featured alone. This could be a consequence of what has happened in the story of the ‘wonderland series’.