JEAN PAGLIUSO – POULTRY, RAPTORS, PLACES OF RITUAL
2018-02-05Following a 30-year career as a portrait photographer working for such publications as Vogue, Times, Newsweek, Time and Rolling Stone, Pagliuso decided to turn her lens on a less traditional subject: chickens.
What began as a way to honor her father’s love of breeding show chickens has since become an extensive collection of poultry portraits. Pagliuso has taken close-up shots of over 20 different chicken breeds, posing them and focusing on the unique plumage and expressions of each.
“I don’t see it as any different at all from photographing people. It’s exactly the same to me. I look for the same things. I look for form and the way the frame is filled,” Pagliuso said in a 2015 interview with Slate Magazine.
The black and white images are hand printed on nearly transparent paper. Pagliuso’s treatment of the birds, combined with the delicacy of the printing materials, create a dignified and surprisingly moving series of portraits.
FMoPA Executive Director Zora Carrier, Ph.D. believes Pagliuso’s chickens resonatebecause she photographs them the same way she photographs fashion models and celebrities.
“In the literary arts, animals are often used as a metaphor for human behavior. I think part of the reason these photographs are so successful at capturing our attention isbecause they bring that same metaphorical quality to the visual arts,” said Carrier.
Opposite – Poultry Suite: Variegated #31, 2010
Exhibition runs through to March 16th, 2018
Florida Museum of Photographic Arts
400 N. Ashley Drive
Tampa
FL 33602
