Daughter a powerful cinematic still taken by Gregory Crewdson carries great weight and depth like many of his images. Working with cinematic techniques Gregory is able to create a whole world in one image. Everything there was perfectly formed and placed by him. I think the image is so wonderfully crafted with the emotions being so raw.
The daughter, the main focal point is alone and vulnerable. A mother exasperated and stunned at what she’s seen with her shopping strewn on the floor. The younger sister in the car; almost like there’s a barrier keeping her from the scene like she’s not old enough or ready to know the story.
Looking at the background we can tell it’s set in a typical suburban american town, much like many of Crewdson’s images. With houses all looking the same it brings more power to the abnormality of the daughters nudity. The pressure on irregularity I feel stems from the typical social norm we would expect from this neighbourhood, that being a conformed and well behaved society of people.
I think that many of Crewdson’s images are carefully crafted to undermine our expectations of places we know, carefully questioning why we expect it to be that way.
Amy Mifsud
L1 Photography, University of the West of England
UWE Bristol Photography Research Group 