Ellie Brown (Phantom Galleries artist 2002), exhibits her photographs that are excerpts from the body of work, About My Sisters 1996-2006 (which will also be a self published book). Ellie has been photographing her half-sisters' passage through childhood, into and out of adolescence for ten years. The work chronicles the quest for identity, changes in voice and confidence through adolescence, the strong influence of media, peer groups and an eating disorder. (from YO Gallery's press release.)
(Ellie has always done beautiful relevant artwork and installations pertaining to girls and women and how they are perceived. Ellie's Phantom exhibit (on South First next to Bella Mia at the time) was an installation of numerous pink dresses that ranged from the cute frilly little girl dress to an underslip of lingerie.)
YO Gallery
113 N 23rd St., Philadelphia, PA 19104
Ellie says: In the 10 years that I have been photographing my sisters, the camera has recorded a huge amount of changes, which are only partially physical. Emily and Abby as small girls had personality differences but they were more or less similar. Abby was scared of things like amusement park rides and showing off with made-up dances while Emily was more of a risk taker and athletic. Pre and early adolescence has made the differences between them so that I couldn’t even imaging two young women being more different. Abby is in a clique of popular girls whose main concerns are drinking, shopping, sneaking around, being mean and are definitely not academic achievement. Emily spends her time solely surrounded by males, obsessing over sports statistics, listening to Bruce Springsteen and striving to be a strong student. She has also developed an eating disorder. Their differences further illustrate how identity is shaped and formed from the passage of girlhood to adolescence.