Introduction

By Holly Andres



My work has always involved personal narrative and feminine subjectivity. I use photography to ponder the brevity of childhood, the fleeting nature of memory, and female introspection. Typically my images rely on a tension between an apparently approachable subject matter and a darker, sometimes disturbing subtext.



“Sparrow Lane” presents an elliptical narrative of young women on the verge of adulthood. Drawing on the formal and thematic conventions of visual sources—Nancy Drew books, 1970s horror films, and Alfred Hitchcock—the series depicts girls in search of forbidden knowledge. Their discoveries metaphorically represent the precarious transition from girlhood to womanhood. I’m interested in the moment of this transition, when a female acquires a sense of both vulnerability and authority from her newfound sexuality. My protagonists are empowered by their discoveries, but also intimidated by a sense of impending threat. Though the girls flirt with danger, the work is apparently innocent and devoid of explicit violence. It is their potential loss of innocence that most compels me.