3rd place
bronze star award
Erika Szostak
united kingdom 
title
Mother Plastic
Credits
Styling, art direction, production & photography: Erika Szostak
Dresses: Dumpster Design (Gold-Digger, Mother Virgin Mary, Mother Nature - Fruity, Sugar Mama) & Erika Szostak / Mark Cooper (Mother Nature - Floral)
Headdresses: Beksie's Boutique
Jewellery: Rockcakes
Cakes: Flutterby Bakery
Makeup: Charlene Howells
Hair: Raf Blosinski
Assistant photography: Dade Freeman
Assistant styling: Twinks Burnett
Models: Jacqueline Damelle, Frankie Kent & Max Paterson
My images tend to be bold, bright and aspirational with a sense of humour, appreciation of kitsch and the hyperreal cinematic influence of years spent in Southern California.
Before delving into photography, I spent several years working in the film industry in Los Angeles, gaining experience in diverse aspects of shoot production.
I often art direct and produce my own shoots; I provide a range of other production services for clients including casting, sourcing crew, location scouting, budgeting, retouching etc. Additionally I take well to external art direction, dedicating myself to synthesising and realising clients' visions. When possible I enjoy being involved in the creative process for a shoot from inception.
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entry description
Meet the Gold-Digger, Mother Virgin Mary, Mother Nature - Fruity, Mother Nature - Floral and the Sugar Mama. "Mother Plastic" is a colourful, kitschy take on the results of our modern tribal affairs, our collective individualism & narcissism leaving us awash in plastics and waste. My fashion story takes on the conceptual figures of “Mother Nature”/ “natural mothers” and asks what it would look like if everything “natural” were replaced with something synthetic. In my story Mother Nature doesn't wear leaves or grass or go naked; she wears recycled rubbish and plastic. The mothers in my story don't breastfeed their children or give them healthy organic food; they rely on formula and load the kids up with sweets. A subtheme to all of this is poking fun at stereotypes of women and the drive to shame women for being “plastic” or “fake” (vis shows like Snog, Marry, Avoid) or for failing to adhere to a socially acceptable construct of “natural” beauty. I also wanted to play upon the commodification of women, bodies and beauty and their subsequent status as consumable, disposable objects.Credits
Styling, art direction, production & photography: Erika Szostak
Dresses: Dumpster Design (Gold-Digger, Mother Virgin Mary, Mother Nature - Fruity, Sugar Mama) & Erika Szostak / Mark Cooper (Mother Nature - Floral)
Headdresses: Beksie's Boutique
Jewellery: Rockcakes
Cakes: Flutterby Bakery
Makeup: Charlene Howells
Hair: Raf Blosinski
Assistant photography: Dade Freeman
Assistant styling: Twinks Burnett
Models: Jacqueline Damelle, Frankie Kent & Max Paterson
about the photographer
Commercial photographer specialising in fashion, editorial & lifestyle images, based in Brighton & London, U.K. American ex-pat. Househead. Parent. Reader. Writer. Nerd.My images tend to be bold, bright and aspirational with a sense of humour, appreciation of kitsch and the hyperreal cinematic influence of years spent in Southern California.
Before delving into photography, I spent several years working in the film industry in Los Angeles, gaining experience in diverse aspects of shoot production.
I often art direct and produce my own shoots; I provide a range of other production services for clients including casting, sourcing crew, location scouting, budgeting, retouching etc. Additionally I take well to external art direction, dedicating myself to synthesising and realising clients' visions. When possible I enjoy being involved in the creative process for a shoot from inception.
back to gallery
