Vee Speers

Vee SpeersVee SpeersVee Speers was born in 1962 in Australia but has lived in Paris since 1990. She became well known for her unusual portraits. She studied art and photography for QCA in Brisbane. After that she worked for ABC Television in Sydney during the 1980s.

Starting with her daughter Vee photographed a series of interesting shots that show the journey from childhood into adulthood that grabbed international attention. The Birthday Party series idea appeared at her daughters birthday party. Many of the children in this series are holding objects, these may symbolise their characters or Vee’s Character.

Vee Speers’ Work:

•Thirteen

•Immortal

•The Birthday Party

•Parisians

•Bordello

Some of Vee Speers Photographs

Immortal

Thirteen

The Birthday Party

Parisians

Bordello

#1 The Birthday PartyFACTUAL: This picture was taken by Vee Speers, inspired by the birthday party that her own daughter had.The CONTEXT: This photograph fits in with a lot of Vee’s other work, mainly with her Birthday Party series and her Thirteen series because they are all against white backgrounds with the children wearing interesting outfits.TECHNICAL: I think this camera would have been taken on a DSLR camera to get the sharpness, I think the lighting will have been positioned next to and above the child. I think this because of the light reflecting off the object she’s holding and off her dress. AESTHETIC: I like the simplicity of this photograph and the fact that the girl is holding this particular object which is simple yet effective. I like this style of dress because it makes her look quite small and to show that she is just a child. I like her eccentric hairstyle, Vee Speers was going for the Marge Simpson hairstyle. The girls cheek bone is really prominent which gives her face a nice appealing shape.

#2 The Birthday PartyFACTUAL: This unusual and interesting photograph was taken by Vee Speers.The CONTEXT: This photograph fits with the Birthday Party series but because of what she is wearing I would of thought it would be part of my favourite series, the Thirteen series. The young girl in this photograph blends into the white background so the dead rabbit she is clutching stands out against the rest of this, in my opinion, great photograph.TECHNICAL: Like Vee’s other photographs I think this would have been taken with a DSLR Camera. I think to make her dress look whiter than it actually is the light would be shining on it. I am pretty sure this photo will have been taken in a studio but it may have been taken in Vee’s house against a white wall.AESTHETIC: I really like this photograph because the contrast between the dark rabbit and the white girl create an eye-catching effect. Her expression conveys an eery mood, this may also be because she is carrying a dead rabbit. I like the fact that she is holding the rabbit and the fact that she looks quite sad and unhappy because of it.