Country Girls' Decoded: Anna Fox's Lens on Rural Shadows
Welcome to this edition of [book spotlight]. Today, we uncover the layers of 'Country Girls,' by Anna Fox and Alison Goldfrapp (published by Setanta Books). We'd love to read your comments below about these insights and ideas behind the artist's work.
"Country Girls" by Anna Fox and Alison Goldfrapp is a compelling photobook that transcends mere imagery to explore the dark underbelly of rural England. Stemming from their upbringing in Alton during the 1970s, Fox and musician Alison Goldfrapp delve into the sinister legacy of Flood Meadows, tainted by the infamous murder of Fanny Adams. This work juxtaposes pastoral beauty against a backdrop of historical violence and contemporary misogyny, challenging idyllic rural myths. Through a series of evocative, sometimes unsettling images, Fox and Goldfrapp navigate their personal histories, creating a narrative that is both an exorcism of their past and a critique of the romanticized countryside. "Country Girls" serves as a stark reminder of the complexities that lie beneath the surface of picturesque landscapes, questioning the nostalgia attached to rural life and exposing its inherent threats and isolations.
Dive into the essence of 'Country Girls' by Anna Fox and Alison Goldfrapp, where we unravel the dark influences behind her evocative photography. Learn how the eerie history of Flood Meadows and a youth marked by Gothic tales fueled Fox's thematic vision: "But the Gothic nastiness of the Fanny Adams story certainly haunted me..."
Uncover the roots of Fox's collaboration with Alison Goldfrapp, from their early punk days to the creation of the provocative 'Country Girls' series: "Alison and I carried on making portraits... we started with Alison dressing up in her mother's clothes..."
The interview also sheds light on their unique approach to photography, aiming to blend menace with glamour, and the deep-seated intentions behind their imagery: "We were interested in creating menacing images... It was about creating shock."
Fox discusses how folklore and history permeate her work and how the countryside's sinister underbelly contrasts its beauty. She also touches on the impact of socio-political themes and outlines her ambitious future projects and goals: "Folk traditions are fascinating... The main aim of Fast Forward is to bring equality to photography..."
This intimate conversation offers a glimpse into the minds of two creative powerhouses, revealing the layers of thought behind their arresting visual narratives.
Influence of Flood Meadows: Growing up near Flood Meadows in the 1970s, did the dark history and the landscape itself influence your initial interest in photography and the themes you choose to explore?
This is not something that I have been asked before and I think it has had an influence on the themes that I have explored, though there are many other things that have also had an influence such as spending my youth in a small town that like any other small towns was full of violence and misogyny. My interest in photography came from my parents. My father was a keen amateur documentary photographer and a big fan of French photographers such as Bresson, Brassai and Atget. As well he bought me my first camera and taught me how to print black & white photographs. My mother was a graphic designer and an amazing critic. But the Gothic nastiness of the Fanny Adams story certainly haunted me from quite a young age and Gothic has certainly been a theme that has interested me in relation to representations of the countryside. One of my favourite novels is The Fall of the House of Usher and literature plays a big role in helping me structure my stories. I am keen to undermine popular, “chocolate box” type representations and myths about the countryside and expose more of the underbelly of what life is like.
Collaboration with Alison Goldfrapp: Your early work with Alison Goldfrapp seems deeply entwined with the story of Fanny Adams. How did your collaboration come about, and how did it evolve over time?
Alison and I lived in the same small town, well I lived in a nearby village and she in the town, she dated my youngest brother for a couple of weeks. It was a very small community and all the young people huddled together to try and make sense of the world. Punk Rock was what really cemented us in our teens, and Alison led the local punk band, which she had called Afterbirth. My first work with Alison was when I photographed her for Zig Zag magazine. One of the magazine’s writers also lived in our town and was writing about rural punk bands so I did the photos of Afterbirth who I think had been renamed Fashionable Living Death by then. After that Alison and I carried on making portraits of her, playing around with various props and clothing in a playful way exploring identity – but we wouldn’t have called it that then. I was living in a dilapidated mansion along with a group of young people and the location was the ideal set for eccentric images. Eventually, when we had both moved away from the area (but were returning regularly to see friends and family) we started to make the pictures which became Country Girls – but we didn’t know that we were working on a body of work – we had just decided that it would be interesting to develop some work together and Alison was keen to model and again we wanted to explore identity but perhaps more explicitly in relation to being a young woman living in a conservative community. We started the series with Alison dressing up in her mother’s clothes, we saw this as ironic, we bought dead pheasants in the local butcher, and she swung them over her shoulder. Later, during that same shoot we decided that running naked through the forest with the pheasants would be more challenging or transgressive – it was all about questioning what we saw as the narrow-minded values of the community that our parents belonged to. We did more shoots at night, with dogs, in woodland and in fields then eventually started to make the images where Alison looks like a dead body. Even when we were making these, we didn’t really think of it all as a body of work.
Evoking Menace through Imagery: The vignettes of isolated body parts you photographed with Alison aim to evoke a sense of menace without direct reference. Can you discuss the process and intention behind choosing such a clinical and dehumanized approach?
Well, it was a slow process over several years to get to the stage of making the images with just legs in them. Legs that looked dismembered. We were interested in the idea of creating menacing images but also images that combined glamour with menace. We liked the images that enticed the viewer to look, and then horrified them when they realised what they were looking at. It was about creating shock, we were shocked by the values that the community held, we were shocked by what had happened to so many young women in our town, including Fanny Adams, we wanted to pass that on, to make people think about it. I am still not sure that it can really be put into words. I mean that’s why I photograph because words on their own are not in my skill set. In fact, this is why I so enjoyed photography at the beginning, when I first started taking photos. I found I could tell stories in a strong or powerful way. It was a way that I could not do with words, I couldn’t speak these things. I had been a very shy young person. I wasn’t great at school, so writing wasn’t easy for me either. When I found photography, it was like speaking for the first time – I mean actually being able to say what I wanted to say. So, words are easier now but still somethings are not explainable in words.
Cultural and Historical References: How do you incorporate and respond to cultural and historical references, such as the tale of Fanny Adams and the folk traditions explored in your Zwarte Piet series, within your work?
Folk traditions are fascinating and historical references are incredibly important – one can pin down ideas by referencing them and connecting them to other stories and ideas. Folk style and carnival customs have always interested me – at some point I looked at the photographs of Sir Benjamin Stone and was entranced by the magic of the pictures of folk tradition and how extraordinary it was to see them because they are so timeless – I mean as soon as someone is dressed up or masked then they are out of time and this becomes quite strange and interesting in a photograph. As well carnival is fascinating as it is the place where people lose themselves and can escape their prescribed identity.
Exorcising the Countryside: You described your work as a form of exorcism against the countryside's dark undertones. How do you balance the beauty and the sinister aspects of rural life in your photography?
I suppose that was simply a way to try and say I wanted to expose something that wasn’t so much spoken about – in the 1970’s when Alison and I were in our teens the countryside was not a great place for young women to be. It’s still not as liberal as the city but it is better than it was. Horror and beauty kind of “sting” each other or activate each other. Beauty in photography is created through light, colour, tone and form or framing. Beautiful photographs can contain sinister things and the horror is made more poignant and disconcerting if it is shrouded in beauty.
Impact of Thatcher’s Britain on Your Work: Your study of office culture in Thatcher’s Britain marked an early focus in your career. How has the socio-political landscape of the UK continued to influence your projects?
I suppose this depends on the project. I am always interested in the socio-political landscape and always read literature that is about this in relation to projects that I am working on. It’s also wonderful working in a university with a brilliant library and librarians as one can simply ask advice and find amazing references. Thatcher’s Britain was something that so many British artists were railing against – its problems were so obvious and so far-reaching – they still affect us today. But now I think it is harder to see the problems, there seem to be so many more layers of complexity and subterfuge, and we all seem so much more caught up in it – the web has been tightly woven, and I think that it is harder to distance oneself and look objectively at what is happening. Perhaps that’s because I am older and because as a person with a full-time work, I am quite literally more embroiled in the society that I was as a young freelancer living in squats and vans.
I am reading a lot about the US at the moment, for a project that I am doing on the East Coast with Karen Knorr. I am keen to understand the past as well as the present and I have just finished The Left Behind which is all about the social make up of rural America.
Fast Forward: Women in Photography: As a leader of the project "Fast Forward: Women in Photography," what are your goals for this initiative, and how has your work been influenced by the contributions of women in photography?
The main aim of Fast Forward is to bring equality to photography, to get women’s work recognised, taken seriously and for it to be properly included in the burgeoning (his)tories of photography. Sign our manifesto here:
https://manifesto.fastforward.photography/
My work continues to be influenced by women photographers. Diane Arbus was one of the first I looked at as we had one of her books at home. I was amazed by the way she used her portraits to tell stories that were more about the society that about the individuals that she was photographing. Her work enabled me to really think about narrating stories about society through photography. Early on I also became aware of Susan Meiselas and have been in awe of her from the first work I saw which was about Nicaragua that was so new to me and so different to other photography of war – she seemed to look at the broader picture and to really give a sense of the society not just the frontline or the action. Later on, I saw Carnival Strippers and loved that too. Today there are so many more women photographers to be inspired by – check out our wonderful Instagram curated by Maria Kapajeva: https://www.instagram.com/womeninphoto/
Future Directions in Your Artistic Journey: Having explored a variety of themes throughout your career, are there new subjects or methods you are currently exploring or plan to explore in your future projects?
I always have a few things going on, I find it easier to work on different things at once to avoid being disappointed when one project just can’t get finished or isn’t ready to be finished. I have been making work in India since 1984 (though there was a long gap between that first trip and the second in 2006). I don’t know when it will be finished as the theme of the work is not entirely clear yet, I am currently collaborating with Indian artist and writer Chinar Shah – the work is largely about aspiration and looks partly at womens’ lives and partly at tradition versus modernity.
I am also working on a collaborative project with Karen Knorr, U.S.1. After Berenice Abbott – we are re making her 1954 road trip from Key West in Florida to Fort Kent in Maine. We want to celebrate Abbotts work and as well comment on post (or maybe not post) Trump society and how it has affected the place and people.
I have a new miniature book project called The Little Showcase which is all about grief and loss after the death of my parents. And I have continued my Zwarte Piet work to look at the way he has changed since the late 1990s when I made the first series of portraits of him. Finally, I have been approached to make new work on London Office life today and I will have more to tell you about this in 2027 when it will hopefully be finished.
I still have several older projects that should be published as books so I will be working on that as well.
To discover more about this intriguing body of work and how you can acquire your own copy, you can find and purchase the book here.
British photographer Anna Fox, born in 1961, is celebrated for her vivid, incisive exploration of contemporary life. Educated at West Surrey College of Art & Design, she's known for her vibrant, color-rich work that delves into British society's idiosyncrasies, often with a sharp wit. Her notable projects like "Work Stations" critique Thatcher-era office culture, while "Country Girls," a collaboration with Alison Goldfrapp, revisits rural English stereotypes.
Fox's influence extends to academia as a respected educator, shaping future talents at the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham. Her work, featured in international collections and exhibitions, challenges traditional documentary photography, making her a critical voice in contemporary British art.
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