Jess Cochrane: FearLess

Overview

Whether they were painted centuries ago, snapped in a shopping centre photography studio in the '80s, or graced the pages of a recently published fashion mag, many portraits of women use the same poses. Perhaps the lovely lady in the frame is turned sideways and smiling. Maybe she's pouting while looking over her shoulder. Sometimes, she's staring enigmatically off into the distance.

Yep, they're the kind of pictures everyone has seen countless times, but few people stop to contemplate in depth. By combining portrait photography and expressionist painting, Jess Cochrane's latest exhibition, FearLess, aims to inspire audiences to ponder why these images recur, what their repeated use says about perceptions of femininity, and the role the male gaze has played throughout history.

That might be a considerable task; however it's surprising just how exaggerating and amplifying commonly seen images with splashes of paint and colour can spark many a train of thought. With the show representing Cochrane's attempt to create "space for the honest, powerful, raw and violent beauty that is all-inclusive", after seeing her pieces, you'll never look at a portrait the same way again.