Continuing through December 31, 2013
The subjects of Kelly Kristin Jones’ and Nancy Newberry’s portraits have quite a bit in common: they are all teenaged-to-young adults, Caucasian and posed. In Newberry’s “Mum” series, Texan high schoolers all sport huge bouquets of cascading ribbons, called “mums,” worn in honor of Homecoming. Dressed in football jerseys, cheerleading outfits, majorette uniforms and plain clothes, the teenagers may portray different “types,” but they are also unified through this unique display of regionalism.
Whereas the “mum” image provides an element of unity, Greek life in Jones’ “Sorority Girl Project” is like a wall. With their lithe bodies and long shiny hair, Jones’ young women are copies of the sisters portrayed in the vintage yearbook photos visible in some of the scenes. Neither their dress nor their environments tell viewers much about their individual identities. The exception is “Ex Sorority Girl,” in which the subject, with her running hosiery and rumpled bed sheets, exudes a more personal vulnerability, which her stoic counterparts withhold.