Spring Program 1982, 2007 by Millee Tibbs

For the Friday, I give you aspiring Hot Shot Millee Tibbs.

My recent work is a response to our relationship with mediated images, specifically those of women. I use the transgressive space of self-portraiture to upend the canonical power relationship between photographer and subject. The act of reenacting these photographs is a gesture meant to question how a woman is expected to present herself. In present American culture, women are asked to have the body of fourteen year olds, and fourteen year olds are presented as desirable women. By reenacting these childhood poses I am asking the viewer to reinterpret them through what I see as our culturally confused and confusing relationship to sexuality.

Born and bred in Alabama, Millee attended Vassar college where she double majored in Hispanic Studies and Studio Art, batteled her frustration with her peers, and developed an addiction to photography. An interesting tidbit, Millee says, "Photography wasn't permitted inside the art department at the time, so I did it on the sly and hand worked my photos (sewing, scratching, drawing) until they were considered art. My work has evolved a lot since then." A decade later, she comes to us. Keep it up Millee!