Chicks with Guns is a powerful cultural portrait of women gun owners in America. In the era of both #MeToo and pervasive gun violence in the United States, Lindsay McCrum has created a timely series of alluring and unexpected portraits.
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Chicks with Guns is a powerful cultural portrait of women gun owners in America. In the era of both #MeToo and pervasive gun violence in the United States, Lindsay McCrum has created a timely series of alluring and unexpected portraits. The work examines issues of self-image and gender through the visual conventions of portraiture and fashion. McCrum neither glorifies nor vilifies her subjects but finds an elusive diversity. The guns presented here are not superimposed props but the very personal accessories of the women portrayed, defying stereotypes often seen within popular culture of both guns and women. Like the other 15-20 million women gun owners in the United States, the women we meet in Chicks with Guns (whose portraits are accompanied by their own words) reside in all regions of the country, come from all levels of society and participate in diverse shooting activities. The women here are sportswomen, hunters, and competition shooters, while some use guns in their work or for self-defense. In these photographs, the women all exude confidence, poise, and power. They are real women with real guns that play a part in their lives. By focusing her camera respectfully on this particular aspect of the American scene, gun- wielding women and girls, Lindsay McCrum sheds light on who we are in America today.
Artist:
Lindsay McCrum
