Visual & conceptual reference - Ilona Szwarc, 'American Girls'

'American Girls' series by Ilona Szwarc

Whilst viewing the Taylor Wessing Photographic Prize at the National Portrait Gallery, I came across the work of Ilona Szwarc, who's photograph was being shown within the exhibition. Her photograph instantly grabbed me, not only because of the subject that she had photographed - a young girl sitting on a bed clutching her doll - but also because after reading about her series titled 'American Girls' I was intrigued by the concept of her photographs.

"'American Girls' is a series of portraits of girls in the United States who own American Girl dolls. Girls with their sculptural representations, their twins, their avatars. Each doll can be customised to look exactly like its owner, yet all of them really look the same. American Girl dolls offer an illusion of choice and therefore an illusion of individuality. Yet they play a crucial role for girls at the time when they are forming their identities."

The theme of 'identity' and it's crucial role for young girls is something I feel passionately about reflecting in my own work, therefore I was very interested in the way the Szwarc portrayed this in her photographs. Although her aim was to show the irony of the dolls, and how despite being customisable they all look the same, I feel that the themes of 'transition' and 'vulnerability' still play an important role within this work, as the young girls that own these dolls are naive to the fact that they are not individual at all, but all look the same.