Rie Rasmussen: Leading Lady
Model Rie Rasmussen turned to photography as a way to flip the script on what she perceives as the chauvinistic narrative of fashion photography. Her work, a mixture of art and fashion photography, attempts to question the system by portraying women as formidable characters—whose femininity is derived from fierceness rather than weakness. For her latest project entitled, “Alternate Attitudes,” Rasmussen tackles the gendered paradigm of the leading man by countering it with the story of the leading lady. Here, the model-turned-photographer explains the series.
“In photography, one moment has to tell an entire story.”
“There has never really been a female lead in an existential fiction. I see this girl as a my solution to that.”
“I use her masculinity to show her rebelling against society’s concept of what a woman is suppose to be.”
“The male model is a shadow in her life. He’s a prop. Just like any girl would be to a male lead.”
“She’s the centerpiece.”
“My work is for the women who are against the glossy, unfed, underachieved, under intellectually stimulated woman.”
“He’s purposefully two dimensional like women usually are in stories.”
“It has been a pleasure to watch young girls like Miley Cyrus and Cara Delevingne fighting back this year against these clichés of femininity—for a while I thought the generation was doomed.”
“I care so much about this character that it took me forever to cull down the images.”
“Both models are wearing a mix of male and female clothing. I like how garments can blur those distinctions.”
“It’s hard to get clouded days in L.A.—but there is something about the light that is worth the wait.”
