Elaine (circa 2019), by American fine art and commercial photographer, Brooke Hummer (date of birth unlisted), from her project, Cat Women, a celebration of strong, independent women and their cats, designed to subvert the sexist stereotype of 'Cat Lady', a term used to shame women, and also to reinterpret the way in which women were depicted in portraits throughout history.
"The whole (project) came together when it hit me that ... women in the Renaissance were only ever painted because of their attachment to powerful men, or as a bride. The traditional marriage portrait was always posed in profile to suggest submission. It was considered an affront for a woman to make eye contact ... pretty soon, I realised that throughout the entire course of the history of visual art, these details about female portraiture are consistent ... "
Of this photograph, she said, " ... the source is early Christian medieval, also referred to as Gothic, around 12C. Elaine is another colleague. She’s a super talented photographer and digi-tech here in Chicago. I love her. She saw the project when I first posted it and approached me at an industry event. From the get go, we knew we had to go with the gothic, Madonna and Child thing. Her style is kind of 'goth' and she was raised Mormon and is fascinated by religious iconography. Her cat’s name is Loki Lucifer. There are SO many paintings we used for reference."