This 65-Year-Old Photographer Is Turning Herself Into Famous Works Of Art
2016-01-19
A woman glances at you over her shoulder, wearing a headscarf and a pearl earring. Sound like a familiar image? Unlike the famous Vermeer painting, the woman pictured is not a girl. In fact, she’s decades beyond the phase of girlhood in her own life.
Laura Hofstadter is the artist behind this painting and others, in which she recreates famous artworks featuring herself as the subject. At the age of 65, she has returned to photography, a passion she pursued in college but left behind when she devoted herself to raising a family and dealing with her own health issues.
The photograph “After Vermeer” is part of a series titled “Stages,” which is partly about coming to terms with different stages of life, loss and aging, according to the artist. The title also refers to the theatrical nature of creating the images, reminiscent of staging a play. Hofstadter explained that it consisted of set design and staging in her house or backyard, the “costume” selection from her existing wardrobe, construction of some props, and, of course, “acting” the part.
