Elina Brotherus

Elina Brotherus B-1972
  1. Contemporary photographer.
  2. Many images carry a depressing feel to them. This represents her anguish for not being able to conceive naturally or with IVF.
  3. Pictures cover her experiences through life.
  4. Her project Model Studies are a good example of questioning the ‘role of the artist’s gaze.
  5. Uses the camera as an investigative tool.
  6. “Involuntary childlessness”
  7. She talks almost with bitterness about the avoidance/non acceptance to talk about fertility. She has become a leading voice the means of ‘art’ to stand up and speak from a woman’s point of view about the subject. She sees ‘Involuntary childlessness’ as a taboo subject , which I think, understandably, angers her.
Elina Brotherus’ seminal body of work ‘Annonciation’1 is a ‘No punches pulled’ photographic account of her five years of unsuccessful IVF treatment program. The title, a clever play on ‘Annunciation’, the announcement by the Archangel Gabriel of the pregnancy of the virgin Mary. My understanding of the title being that of a derivation/bastardisation of anonymous. Brotherus takes us though five years of heartache and frustration, but she also has anger and frustration at the way the (all forms of) media deliver their features on IVF (In vitro fertilisation). “What we learn about the subject in the media – documentaries, interviews, articles and TV programs on infertility – they all have a happy end. In reality, the success stories are rare, but they are the ones we hear of. For the rest of us, this biased broadcasting is upsetting. It’s as though the general public should not see the inconsolable reality but instead a cathartic ‘per aspera ad astra’ Hollywood story.”1 This is the vehicle that drives this body of work so far off of the path well-trodden. Though this work is, in itself far reaching, it is merely opening a door on a subject which is vast, complicated and mostly uncharted. By drawing on courage from somewhere, Brotherus presents us with a series of self-portraits which (cliché, but true) lay her soul bare, at her most vulnerable and emotional times. This series prompts me to think about the dichotomy that exists in portraiture, or the ‘capturing of the person’. More often than not portrait artists are trying to capture ‘that look’ or ‘that instant’ when the sitter bares their soul or drops their guard. Yes, that is very hard, and indeed an art, however Brotherus throws these notions of difficulty out of the window, by capturing something far deeper, even though the emotion is thrust upon us. Reference
  1. http://www.elinabrotherus.com/photography#/annonciation/