In 1976, the fashion photographer; Lucia Giacani was born. She was born in Jesi, Italy and has attended the Advanced Institute for the Artistic Industries in Rome. She is now a freelance photographer and is currently working from her studio in Milan. She often collaborates with the likes of Vanity Fair, Vs, Tatler HK, Noi.se, Glamour, Twill, Harrods magazines, Vogue Italia, Vogue Accessory, Vogue Russia and Vogue Gioiello.
Icons
Icons is a series of photographs for noi.se magazine in November 2010 and they were also showcased at Cannes fashion photography festival in July 2011. Make up and Styling by Aaron Henrikson.
The work has been heavily influenced by religion, femininity and divinity. Her work is also influenced by paintings of famous religious women such as Saint Mary, Saint Anne or Saint Dorothy.
As seen in this painting of the Virgin Mary by Mirjana Gotovac, she is often depicted with a sense of complete holiness. Over the years she has been most often painted with a halo or some other circular issue around her head to represent a halo. Lucia Giacani has done this most clearly in picture 8 except it is pink and filled to represent a modern femininity. She also references a halo in pictures 3, 5, 6, and 7. In the two darker pictures 4 and 5, the model is depicted with dark pink coming from her eyes in the manner of blood. This is a reference to the bleeding eyes of Mother Mary. Mary is always painted wearing a headscarf as a good Christian woman is meant to:
“But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God. Every man praying or prophesying with his head covered, disgraces his head. But every woman praying or prophesying with her head uncovered disgraces her head, for it is the same as if she were shaven. For if a woman is not covered, let her be shaven. But if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, let her cover her head. A man indeed ought not to cover his head, because he is the image and glory of God. But woman is the glory of man. For man was not created for woman, but woman for man. This is why the woman ought to have a sign of authority over her head, because of the angels.” - New Testament (1 Corinthians 11:3-10)
In "Icons" the model has her head covered in every photograph, this is to show her divinity and her representation of female Christian icons."Icons" is a series of photographs of a model representing the femininity and divinity of women religious figures, none to be specific. The subject matter is a model who has been styled in rich goddess-like clothing and holds feminine objects such as an angel, a flower, a sphere, a love heart, a doll and petals. Lucia has then used lighting and a backdrop, then took pictures of the model. Using professional editing software, she has then gone on to edit the pictures to create a biblical, artistic effect. You could say "Icons" is all the old and worshipped paintings of female religious figures, updated and modernised for the fashion magazines of today. The pictures are in single format, this is to make the messages conveyed more powerful. The colour scheme of the shoot is very soft and feminine colours. colours such as pink, white or cream and more rich and indulgent colours such as gold or hot pink. Lucia has used contrast in the pictures. For example, picture 1 is mostly white and represents light, virginity and purity, whereas picture 5 is mostly black with a rich flash of hot pink. Perhaps this to represent the darkness and death of the icon, and the rich pink represents indulgence.
The work is very aesthetically pleasing to the eye and intrigues the viewer with the splashes of rich colours against softer pale colours. The work is very mysterious and enticing to view. In picture 1 her skin and clothing is a pale off-white. The viewers eyes are instantly attracted to small circles of skin colour around her eyes. We then see her glazed eyes looking past the camera and we are wondering what she is looking at. This creates a sense of mystery and also references the iconic paintings of Christian women figures who are also depicted looking away.
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