Radical Women
Gwyneth Paltrow has (whether fairly or not) earned herself a reputation as a bit of a goodie two shoes – a smugly blogging yummy mummy, more interested in the world of organic groceries than rock n roll.

Source: Copyright Mary McCartney
Self-portrait, Nashville, 2004.
It’s a testament, then, to photographer Mary McCartney’s skill that her image of Paltrow styled as a Blond Ambition-Tour era Madonna transports every inch of her into the conical breasted provocateur of the woman she’s aping.

Source: Copyright Mary McCartney
Let Me Out, Long Island, 1995.
McCartney’s knack to create images that at once seem stark and candidly intimate is to be showcased in a new exhibition opening this week at The Lowry in Salford, featuring images of women including Marianne Faithful, Joni Mitchell, Björk and Helen Mirren.

Source: Copyright Mary McCartney
Laughing Ladies, Royal Opera House, London, 2004.
The show, entitled Developing: Photographs by Mary McCartney will feature previously unseen photographs alongside images from publications such as Harper¹s Bazaar and Vogue. She’s more than just Paul and Linda’s daughter, then.
It’s an almost exclusively female cast – with the exception of Morrissey, and a few others – shot in a way that strikes a balance between spontaneity and performance.

Source: Copyright Mary McCartney
Tracey as Frida, London, 2000.
Many of the subjects are playing a role: as with Gwyneth, Tracey Emin is dressing up. She becomes Frida Kahlo (an acknowledgement, perhaps, of a certain similarity to the notoriously heavy browed artist); while Beth Ditto, singer with The Gossip is by contract very much dressed down, captured sporting nothing but a bed sheet.
Other highlights are this gorgeous image of a ballerina perched in a sink:

Source: Copyright, Mary McCartney
Ballerina in Sink, Royal Opera House, London, 2004.
And the wonderfully off-beat expression of Vivienne Westwood captured here:

Source: Copyright Mary McCartney
Vivienne, London, 2008.
The show forms part of The Lowry’s Radical Women Month series of exhibitions and events, and quite rightly so. McCartney’s women are certainly radical – and rendered even more when seen through her lens.
Developing: Photographs by Mary McCartney runs until 9 June The Lowry, Pier 8, Salford Quays M50
-
Post a comment