Lydia Panas S L E E P I N G B E A U T Y online exhibition winter 2022
Making photographs in the fields and forests of our family farm in Pennsylvania evokes complicated memories from my unconscious. The images attempt to describe how it feels to be a girl—controlled, silenced—and a woman realizing her strength.
“Sleeping Beauty” is about the things we communicate and hold back from others. Highlighting the complicated relationship between artist and subject, I pay attention to the roles of power and trust on both sides of the camera.
The women and girls in these portraits challenge the viewer; they are aware, defiant. Straddling vulnerability, recognition, and resolve, the images draw the viewer into an intimate and uncomfortable encounter, dismantling the power of the viewing gaze.
Emerging from the lush landscape, the women and I look at one another as we begin to drop our facades. A window of alignment where all things superficial give way to vulnerability and strength.
S L E E P I N G B E A U T Y
Photographs by Lydia Panas
Texts by Marina Chao, Maggie Jones, and Monae Mallory
Published by MW Editions
Hardcover
10 x 12”, 112 Pages
65 Color Photographs
To purchase the Sleeping Beauty monograph please visit Lydia’s website: www.lydiapanas.com/sleeping-beauty-monograph
For information about prints, pricing and availability please contact the gallery.