Vicky Martin: The Future is Female

Vicky Martin, a UK-based artist and photographer, specializes in creating artworks that express individuality and emotions elicited by scenario-based fantasy and reality. With her work, she explores identity through staging situations and creating a reality in which strong female characters display conflicting emotions and circumstances.

 Through a blend of powerful women characters’ voices, fantasy, strength, and vulnerability, an audience is stimulated to understand feminism through Martin’s unique perspectives.

Vulnerability Takes Centerstage

In staged realities, Vicky Martin dresses female models in garments and positions that reflect a culture or period of history that the artist is portraying. There is a tendency in Martin’s work to find characters weighing feelings of confidence, determination, boldness, and isolation against those of fear, detachment, and isolation. 

 It is not strength alone that defines power, as conflicting feelings accompany it. Additionally, although each work contributes to a certain narrative, an element of ambiguity also invites the viewer to interpret them independently.

While she initially photographed in black and white, she later moved on to color and now uses it to enhance her narrative through her photographs. In this way, her perspective on women’s empowerment is fully displayed through strong female characters that subvert stereotypical, individual, and societal expectations of femininity, vulnerability, and self-doubt. 

Critically Acclaimed Works

A notable collection of Vicky Martin’s works, which focus on the perspectives of strong female characters, have been published worldwide and exhibited by a number of institutions.

In 2020, she won the Minimalist Photography Awards as Portrait Photographer of The Year with her project entitled “Selfhood.” With the adage “the eye is the window to the soul,” the project challenges the need to see the eyes within a portrait. Each portrait is intended to convey a character and a story and foster empathy with a twist of not utilizing the eyes.

As we have seen, Martin frequently depicts well-known female characters in a vulnerable light. Her series “Curiouser and Curiouser” is inspired by Alice in Wonderland, a strong female protagonist self-conscious about her identity and what others think. With the White Rabbit character, Alice is reminded to accept herself and adapt—a representation of her transition from childhood to adulthood.

In her other acclaimed “Not in Kansas” series, Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz demonstrates strength and independence, but her journey allowed Martin to create narratives that blur the lines between imagination and reality. Furthermore, Dorothy’s path to self-discovery enabled her to be empowering and assertive in a strange land by confronting loneliness and fear.

Moreover, a few of Martin’s other accomplishments include being named Best Professional Fine Artist at the 2018 Julia Margaret Cameron Awards, winning the Chromatic Awards 2018 for Professional Beauty and Fashion, and winning the All About Photo Magazine issue in 2018.

Reflection on Society

Vicky Martin, a contemporary artist who believes in sharing a voice that improves humanity, also notes that artists generally reflect society, culture, and history. “Art is a medium that gives a voice, not only to the artist, but to those represented within the piece of artwork, and I find it not only a privilege to have a means of expressing myself and my voice, but also a necessity,” Martin states. 

In addition, the works of art Martin have been influenced by current events. She further elaborates that although being female is the primary influence in her work, she takes inspiration from strong women portrayed in literature, film, and pop culture.

Discover More about vicky martin

Vicky Martin’s work explores identity by staging situations and presenting a reality full of conflicting emotions and circumstances that are unique to her. By realistically depicting female empowerment—and empowerment in general—along with vulnerability, determination, and the challenges that come with it, Martin’s works feel authentic to many.

Check out Vicky Martin and her artwork on her Instagram page.