by Maria Sofou
New York- based photographer Andrea Mary Marshall has created a stunning new photography work consisting of 24 images produced in the form of a double – sided calendar.
Marshall’s Feminist Calendar intents to create a dialogue with the world-famous Pirelli calendar. Since 1964, the Italian-based tire company, Pirelli & C. SpA has photographed some of the world’s most beautiful, popular models for its annual limited edition pin-up calendar, becoming a trademark for western culture and beauty standards. However, recently it was reported that the Cal will be changing its traditional lineup of supermodels for “women who are shaping the world today” – shot by Annie Leibovitz, 2016’s Cal will be nothing like the one we were used to.
Andrea Mary Marshall enters the dialogue of how women are depicted in mass media, starting with the Cal. “Through her own calendar project, Marshall challenges “sexy” and “influential” as mutually exclusive identities. The Feminist Calendar presents twelve sexually explicit, highly stylized self-portraits alongside twelve unexposed self-portraits. Side one of “The Femme” emphasizes sex, power, and consumerism, while side two strips away the red nails and lipstick in favor of a more barefaced femininity. For each portrait, Marshall serves as both photographer and model, subject and object. Displayed side-by-side, the contrasting sets of images present one woman as both sexual and serious. In every image, she is self-styled, self-possessed, and self-actualized. In this way, she explores self-objectification as an act of empowerment and proposes that women can celebrate their bodies, their sexuality, and shape the world at the same time.”
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
