Brooklyn Arts Council

These photographs stem from my preoccupation with the experience of disappointment amidst celebration. In this series, I create moments concerning issues of trust, intimacy and betrayal in the relationships of women and girls; how age, unspoken exclusions and discomfort are manifested in women's body language and gestures.

The title, The All Girls School, refers to the idea that women and girls learn an unspoken language of body positions, gestures and facial expressions that are primarily intended for, and understood by, a female audience.

I choose the location, people, wardrobe and props. I give the participants a brief idea of their character. Over the course of a few hours, the participants� interpretations of my directions meld with their own semi-unconscious body language. I can then photograph a decisive moment between the women and girls.

In these photographs I show how gesture and gaze function to create an outsider or insider, and the ways in which these visual clues shift ostracism from one subject to another both inside and outside the photograph. I want the viewer to sense how they might feel if they were in the room and how they feel given that they are not in the room.

Mara J. Bodis-Wollner