I am a photo-based artist with a focus in portraiture. To represent my subjects intuitively and energetically, I use natural light, and I do not manipulate my images. These strategies allow me to freely discover unexpected moments in everyday life and depict people and personal relationships as I see them. Though I work spontaneously, light and form are vital to me. I am inspired by the emotional quality of pre-photographic formal classicism in seventeenth-century Dutch portraiture, by painters like Johannes Vermeer. I am particularly fascinated by adolescence and interested in conveying the vulnerable side of young women. For the on-going series, Portraits of Girls, I look for teenagers who project a psychological intensity through their gaze and gestures. Inspired by photographers like Hellen van Meene, I explore the emotional tension between innocence and adulthood. Like Dijkstra, I invite the viewer to examine the exchange between these young subjects and myself. Even though I am no longer an adolescent, I learn about myself by exploring their shifting sense of identity with them. There is a naked honesty inherent to photography that allows me to create a more personal diary of human intimacy. For my series, Tati, I used my camera as a way to observe and better understand my mother and our evolving relationship. Though this work is personal and fulfilling, I am also attempting to communicate through it on a level that resonates emotionally with the viewer. Ultimately, I aim to create truthful images that speak to our shared humanity.
About Josefina Fernandez Moran:
Josefina F Moran is a portrait and fine art photographer. She was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Currently she lives in Brooklyn, NY although her work often takes her back to Buenos Aires. She uses portraiture as a way to discover the identity of the people she photographs. In her work, she explores intimate relationships, as she does in Tati, a series of portraits of her mother. In Portraits of girls in the street and the on-going Adolescent Girls at Home her portraits aim to capture teenage girls at pivotal moments in their lives. She is one of the recipients of the En Foco Fellowship in 2020. Her work has been exhibited in several group and solo exhibitions such as the Consulate of Argentina (New York 2021) the Latin American Fine Art Competition, Agora Gallery (New York 2018) and Umbrella Arts (New York 2016 and 2018) She was among the selected winners of The Photo Review in 2019 and 2020. Currently she is a faculty member at the International Center of Photography. She works with photographer Harvey Stein to teach workshops in Argentina during the celebration of Carnaval.She taught photography in her native Buenos Aires. Before becoming a photographer Josefina had a successful career as a makeup artist. She worked with artist Cindy Sherman in her feature film Office Killer as well as with top directors and production companies in Buenos Aires.
