Mara Bodis-Wollner | The All Girls School
The All Girls School | Photographs by Mara Bodis-Wollner
On view @ jen bekman through December 22, 2005.
Current Press:
The New Yorker (Dec 12, 2005):
For her New York solo début, this young photographer says she’s zeroing in on “the experience of disappointment amidst celebration.” But because her subjects are almost exclusively women and girls gathered for birthday, cocktail, or dinner parties, Bodis-Wollner is also taking on the fraught dynamics of female relationships. In these carefully orchestrated tableaux, she invites us into minefields trip-wired by intricate webs of connection and exclusion. The reference point here is Tina Barney, who deploys her patented blend of naturalism and artifice in similarly social settings. Although Bodis-Wollner’s work is more effortful than Barney’s, when she loosens up she has an eloquence and precision all her own.
The Village Voice:
I’ve been looking forward to Bodis-Wollner’s solo debut since the gallery posted a single image from the series on its website months ago… The All Girls School looks to be a spectacular exploration of the dance and drama of life in a place where girls gather day in and day out.
Photo Essay along with a Q A on The Morning News:
...What drew us to her pictures was the storytelling. Each shot has a dozen narratives that pop off the surface if you trace the subjects’ eyes. Admiration, frustration, loneliness, jealousy—it’s your 10-year high school reunion and big family dinner all rolled into a single uncomfortable moment.
