Photos of American teens taking on the patriarchy

Girl pictures — Photographer Justine Kurland reimagines a mythical new world for young women – one where they’re allowed to roam, rebel, and live lawlessly off the land.

American pop culture has maintained a lifelong love affair with the notion of the anti-hero, the quintessential rebel ready to right the wrongs of injustice on their own terms. The runaway often takes the form of a youth coming of age, who recognises the only way to live true to themselves is to escape the oppressive structures of family and society, and learn to survive on their wits.

Yet while there are plenty of Huckleberry Finns and Holden Caulfields in American literature, there is a profound absence of girls daring to go it alone. It is here, into this void that photographer Justine Kurland first stepped more than 20 years ago when she began making the series Girl Pictures. The project, made between 1997 and 2002, has just published by Aperture.

“I wanted the girls to run away to escape patriarchy, to forge a world of their own,” Kurland says. “I realise my fantasy derives from an American one; Manifest Destiny and dreams of the frontier. But the expansion West is essentially a colonialist desire, one of violence and genocide.” 

Resisting the system of American patriarchy and its imperialist agenda, Kurland transforms the landscape of teenage rebellion into mythic scenes of Arcadia. Here, a collectivist mindset permeates every frame, one that allows groups of young girls to band together and live off the land without exploiting it for themselves.

Teen girls

Boy Torture: Two-Headed Monster,1999; from Girl Pictures (Aperture, 2020)

Teen girls

One Red, One Blue, 2000; from Girl Pictures (Aperture, 2020)

To make these images, Kurland traversed the continent; crossing the Mississippi River, wading through fields of waving grass, surmounting the jagged crests of Colorado, and rolling through the valleys of the Sierra Nevada, before finally reaching the Pacific Ocean. 

Of her staged scenes, Kurland says: “I made this work as a way to imagine new possibilities. I photographed outside of towns, on highway embankments and overpasses, along rivers and sluices. The landscape was a receptacle of a utopian impulse, a never-never land for girls, to live communally, in a perpetual state of bliss.”

Kurland’s work was inspired by iconic female rockers like Debbie Harry, Patti Smith and Bikini Kill, as well as after-school TV shows that inadvertently made her root for “fallen” or flawed female protagonists.

Girl Pictures started in an organic way,” she says. “I was not consciously setting out to make corrections to narratives concerning women.”

Teen girls

Toys R Us, 1998; from Girl Pictures (Aperture, 2020)

Teen girls rebel

Poison Ivy, 1999; from Girl Pictures (Aperture, 2020)

She began photographing Alyssum, her then-boyfriend’s 15-year-old daughter who had been sent to live with her father after getting caught skipping school and smoking weed. “I vastly preferred her company to his,” Kurland remembers. “After he left for work, we spent long conspiratorial mornings stretched under the air conditioner in his Midtown Manhattan condominium. Together we conceived a plan to shoot film stills starring Alyssum as a teenage runaway.”

Now, two decades later, Kurland reflects on the timely impact of these photographs. “They exist outside of original impulse conceiving them and mean something else during a administration that has rolled back environmental protections and put women’s reproductive choices are at risk. They belong to a new generation girls who might find something aspirational in the photographs.”

Teen girls rebel

Shipwrecked, 2000; from Girl Pictures (Aperture, 2020)

Golden Field, 1998; from Girl Pictures (Aperture, 2020)

Candy Toss, 2000; from Girl Pictures (Aperture, 2020)

Snow Angels, 2000; from Girl Pictures (Aperture, 2020)

Daisy Chain, 2000; from Girl Pictures (Aperture, 2020)

Girl Pictures is released this month through Aperture. 

Follow Miss Rosen on Twitter.

Enjoyed this article? Like Huck on Facebook or follow us on Twitter


Ad

Latest on Huck

Crowd of silhouetted people at a nighttime event with colourful lighting and a bright spotlight on stage.
Music

Clubbing is good for your health, according to neuroscientists

We Become One — A new documentary explores the positive effects that dance music and shared musical experiences can have on the human brain.

Written by: Zahra Onsori

Indoor skate park with ramps, riders, and abstract architectural elements in blue, white, and black tones.
Sport

In England’s rural north, skateboarding is femme

Zine scene — A new project from visual artist Juliet Klottrup, ‘Skate Like a Lass’, spotlights the FLINTA+ collectives who are redefining what it means to be a skater.

Written by: Zahra Onsori

Black-and-white image of two men in suits, with the text "EVERYTHING IS COMPUTER" in large bright yellow letters overlaying the image.
Culture

Donald Trump says that “everything is computer” – does he have a point?

Huck’s March dispatch — As AI creeps increasingly into our daily lives and our attention spans are lost to social media content, newsletter columnist Emma Garland unpicks the US President’s eyebrow-raising turn of phrase at a White House car show.

Written by: Emma Garland

A group of people, likely children, sitting around a table surrounded by various comic books, magazines, and plates of food.
© Michael Jang
Culture

How the ’70s radicalised the landscape of photography

The ’70s Lens — Half a century ago, visionary photographers including Nan Goldin, Joel Meyerowitz and Larry Sultan pushed the envelope of what was possible in image-making, blurring the boundaries between high and low art. A new exhibition revisits the era.

Written by: Miss Rosen

Silhouette of person on horseback against orange sunset sky, with electricity pylon in foreground.
Culture

The inner-city riding club serving Newcastle’s youth

Stepney Western — Harry Lawson’s new experimental documentary sets up a Western film in the English North East, by focusing on a stables that also functions as a charity for disadvantaged young people.

Written by: Isaac Muk

Couple sitting on ground in book-filled environment
Culture

The British intimacy of ‘the afters’

Not Going Home — In 1998, photographer Mischa Haller travelled to nightclubs just as their doors were shutting and dancers streamed out onto the streets, capturing the country’s partying youth in the early morning haze.

Written by: Ella Glossop

Signup to our newsletter

Sign up to stay informed from the cutting edge of sport, music and counterculture, with personal takes on the state of media and pop culture in your inbox every month from Emma Garland, former Digital Editor of Huck, exclusive interviews, recommendations and more.

Please wait...

Accessibility Settings

Text

Applies the Open Dyslexic font, designed to improve readability for individuals with dyslexia.

Applies a more readable font throughout the website, improving readability.

Underlines links throughout the website, making them easier to distinguish.

Adjusts the font size for improved readability.

Visuals

Reduces animations and disables autoplaying videos across the website, reducing distractions and improving focus.

Reduces the colour saturation throughout the website to create a more soothing visual experience.

Increases the contrast of elements on the website, making text and interface elements easier to distinguish.