DEBRA HAYES
Sexism & Ageism In America

This is a continuation of an ongoing project I have wherein I create environmental portraits by photographing women over forty in their homes. In this project, I instruct the women to pick out clothing choices that make them feel attractive and confident, thereby removing the societal elements of what is considered "sexy" or provocative dress. Traditional male poses, masculine camera angles and expressions are some of the elements that I juxtapose on to my subjects to give women the much needed on-camera multi-dimensional personas and characters that are typically avoided in traditional female portraits. I feel all of these elements give my subjects strength, dimension and depth, all the while unabashedly promoting the idea that women of any age are worthy of being photographed.

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