About our feature image…

“Wonder Woman symbolizes many of the values of the women’s culture that feminists are now trying to introduce into the mainstream: strength and self-reliance for women, sisterhood and mutual support among women, peacefulness and esteem for human life: a diminishing both of ‘masculine’ aggression and of the belief that violence is the only way of solving conflicts.”

~ Gloria Steinem

I commissioned this costume from my seamstress mother-in-law for the occasion of my 40th birthday. This series is an homage to my childhood idol and I hope it speaks to the viewer about the values that Ms. Steinem noted. I shot this particular image just prior to the #MeToo, movement but it was definitely intended to speak to the singular power of every woman navigating a vast and hostile world seemingly alone. Wonder Woman wears a cape because (if you didn’t know) from the very beginning she could glide through the air on currents of the wind. She is an incredibly strong and capable heroine who is every bit as powerful as her male counterparts. As a self-portrait series, this is about more than a fictional character as it is somewhat autobiographical. I am interested in continuing the series further this year, in order to explore deeper feminist themes of inclusivity and age.  

For this image, I travelled six hours by car to Grasslands National Park in Saskatchewan. Once I arrived, I set up my tent and slept overnight near the trailhead for this hike in the park. The desert hike is just over one hour with a gradual uphill climb to this vantage point so I brought my costume with me and changed into it when I reached my destination. Well, wriggled and pulled into it as it is a tough outfit to get on. Luckily there were no other hikers around on this day. I set up a tripod with a strong weighted pack to keep it from toppling over in the high winds, and used timers and remotes to capture this photograph in one of my favourite places on earth. I didn’t spend too much time here. I took only about 12 photos, which is fairly standard practice for my self-portrait work. I spent a second night camping and travelled around the area taking photos (without the costume) the next day as well. 

~ Photographer Lori Andrews