“A woman’s guess is much more accurate than a man’s certainty ” ,
Rudyard Kipling
My response to the question of the title is the era we are going through ; but I am fortunate to have the opportunity to transform ,through the photo shootings we provide with my collaborator , cousin and photographer , into characters of all times .
We are on the firsts days of the general Lockdown , happened on the November , in our country Greece and we have just reunite with my collaborator . Starting discussing about what we should shoot next and he proposed to depict a classical painting . Then the idea pop-uped in my brain , did a quick research and a Lavinia’s Fontana painting caught my attention .
Her pale face and her red hair resembling to mine were the crucial element in order to end up with this choice , but her posture and sight were flaunted dominance and certainty of a woman living around the 16th century , so I wanted to empower women of all the eras .
The idea immediately adjusted to our project and soon we were addressing the clothes , the hair and the whole scenery .
The painting responds to the art movement of mannerism ,also known as a Late Renaissance ,a style which emerged in the later years of High Renaissance , around the 1520 till the end of the 16th century in Italy .Notable names to be mentioned ,except Lavinia Fontana ,are El Greco and Giuseppe Arcimboldo .The colour pallet of the artwork is much brighter than our final result , firstly because of the light and the scenery that was available that time and secondly our version is according to our aesthetics .
Nevertheless , the painting was the trigger point for accomplishing this shooting and pay homage to women of the past ,of the present and the future .Something similar did the Museo del Prado the past October , in the context of the celebration of its Bicentenary , presented an exhibition called “A Tale of Two Women Painters: Sofonisba Anguissola and Lavinia Fontana” honouring the female artists of the second half of 16th century .Lavinia is considered to be the first professional female artist while Sofonisba was born to an aristocratic family and she never received fee for her services .
To sum it , up we gave a twist on a late renaissance painting ,but what I would like you to keep is that women were never the fairer sex . Women are strong by their nature , they have opinion ,they are political , sentimental ,creative ,innovators ; you can distinguish it by their imposing presence and their sight , by the way they think and act .
Eleni Kadigkou Xx
Photographer : Panagiotis Kadigkos
Model : Eleni Kadigkou
Featuring Shirt : Rococo