A group exhibit at The Flinn Gallery in Greenwich includes some photos from Jodi’s 1994 book, SuperWomen: 100 Women – 100 Sports. The show is called “PUBLIC FACES, PRIVATE STORIES…Portraits of extraordinary people” and features the work of Nancy Crampton, Emma Dodge Watson and Todd Cameron Westphal as well as Jodi.
It’s good fun for us to see the SuperWomen photographs in this setting after seeing the exhibit in it’s previous incarnations in shows around the country. From the first opening at The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, to LA, Boston and many stops in between, it’s always a thrill to see these big prints of Jodi’s athletes on public display. It was especially fun to see the new groupings of photographs as curated and hung by Debra Fram-Schwartz. The images stood on their own as unique pieces, but the elegantly displayed backstory offered inspiration and education as well. And that’s what I’ve always loved about these photos. They stand on their own as images, but they also tell stories of hope, perserverance against great odds, and ultimately about success.
But this project goes deeper than a self help inspirational book (which would be just fine with me). As photographers, we love seeing and sharing beauty. One of the things that has always struck me about the SuperWomen project is Jodi’s ability to see beauty in a unique way and point it out to others. That is true in many of her images, especially so in the case of Kristen Heaston, the shotputter. Here is a women who may not fit standard definitions of Hollywood beauty, yet one is almost hypnotized by her confident and warm brown eyed gaze. She appears to be totally comfortable in her own skin and one cannot help be moved by her grace and poise. This is a beautiful women, seen very strongly. Much the same can be said of Carol Sing, the Open Water swimmer. There is a warmth and a joy to this woman and one can feel her optimism. But this is not a formulaic approach to portraiture. Looking at The Boxer, Kathy Collins, one sees a fabulous mix of determined energy waiting to burst, coupled with the softness of available light twinkling from her eyes. Each women has a different story to tell, and Jodi has listened very closely to those stories so that she might share them with us.
A slight technical aside. We watermark all our images with our names, and as we are partners, my name appears on these images next to Jodi’s name. That completely misrepresents the creation of these photographs. They were conceived by, and totally created by Jodi Buren and any contribution I might have made came in the form of whipping up a quick dinner as Jodi returned home after a long days shoot.
All Photographs © Jodi Buren 2004