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Queen Boudicca, England, ? - AD 61

The WOMEN WARRIORS began in the spring of 2006, and was inspired by the story of England’s Queen Boudicca, a heroic and daring leader who has been all but forgotten by history. I was driven to discover other historic women leaders, and longed to know not only their tales, but also what they may have looked like. I decided to interpret their significance by creating a series of formal studio portraits, as if photography had existed during their lifetimes. Each portrait is based on historic evidence and existing artistic depictions, and every attempt has been made to be as historically accurate as possible with resources available to me. Utilizing controlled studio lighting, digital photography and Photoshop, I have exercised complete artistic control through every step of the process, assuring I was accurately creating what I envisioned, leaving nothing to chance. These images are created to challenge the viewers’ thoughts and ideas about women’s roles in history. The WOMEN WARRIORS has allowed me to create an approach to portraiture that exposes and makes real the grandeur of the unmarked and unknown significant life.

To learn more about THE WOMEN WARRIORS, suggest a candidate, or to apply to portray a Woman Warrior, please visit my website at www.ekatieholm.com/women_warriors.htm.

The Figure & Cloud series began in 2005 as a serendipitous accident. Upon receiving my film back from the lab, image #1 was yanked from the portraits I had shot that day, but it was not discarded. I was intrigued by the play of the delightful summer sky with the ominous figure in the foreground. The image is at once inviting and sinister. What is the tale to be told here? Does one believe in the light or the dark? Although the construction of this image is entirely basic, to me it is symbolic of many things--humankind's relationship with nature, the choice between good and evil, aloneness versus connectedness. This was all the symbolism of a Hermann Hesse dichotomy produced in a photograph.

While working on this series the following year, I was again confronted by a dichotomy. One simply cannot produce serendipitous results when actively seeking to do so. Beautiful skies and clouds are not always present when a human subject is available, and vice versa. Not every image was imbued with the same sense of menace and promise which had occurred in the original image. The images presented here represent my successes. Perhaps, like Hesse's protagonists, I merely need to transcend my intellectual awareness of the creative process (f-stop, shutter speed, composition), and embrace the spiritual approach (what will happen will happen). Thus will yin and yang be allied; thus will unity be achieved.