Brynn, Sarah, & Taniysha
Three photographs
by Andrea Workman

Subject Statements:
This project was created to show women in their everyday environment. Each model chose where and how they would be photographed and wrote a short personal narrative about what they consider their essence as women to be.

I’m a dreamer. I want to touch, taste, see, hear, and be everything. I crochet when I am nervous. I write when I am agitated. I play guitar when I am inspired. I like to run while the sun is setting. I think learning how to let go best helps you to hang on. I love to be social. I need to live alone. I have comfy retro chairs, but I rarely sit in them longer than five minutes at a time. A plant is the single best housewarming present in the world. Signing a lease makes me nervous. I’d like to think I live a passionate existence. I like colorful objects, real people, and all things unexplored. I live for music and survive through creation. I am never bored.
-Brynn

The essence of my female spirit is tucked between my muscles, skin, and bones. It's the device in my brain that filters: what stays, what goes. It's in my long hair that carries the scents of several cities - it is rooted; I am not. It's in my capable hands that break guitar strings and toss out my baggage. It is inside my chest and underneath my ribcage, an open heart that sings and sings about love. It is the intuition I hold in my abdomen, above a void that does not need to be filled. It's in the legs that carry me out of danger. It's my body, naked, without seeking validation of its beauty. It is perfectly flawed. There is no shame in this. It is only strength that resides within me.
-Sarah

My essence is patient and as enduring as the earth, waiting for the sun to appear so that it can grow, as calm as the rivers on a summers day, playful like a midsummer’s breeze, yet fiery like the flames of a fire that can't be fully controlled by some. It is one that is independent and unique to and yet one that changes with the day. My essence is mystery, mixed with a touch of curiosity, thrown together with a lot of hope and love that completes the makings of me.
-Tanyisha

Andrea Workman is a student at Fairhaven College. She is pursuing an Upside-Down degree in Photography. She says about her work: “Since I was fifteen, I’ve wanted to create personal and powerful images that speak to the people who aren’t inspired by conservative or shallow images.”