By: Max Xu

The mystery behind Francesca Woodman and her photographs is still unclear to this day.

Francesca Woodman, born April 3, 1958, was a talented photographer who committed suicide at the young age of 22. Her works were largely unnoticed during her lifetime, and only really started gaining traction after her death.

All of Woodman’s photos are very confusing and hard to understand. In many, her face is blurred and the figure in the photo is shown doing different things. She has pictures ranging from her in an empty room, crouched down and running, to her lying on the ground with an eel-like animal draped over her arm.

Woodman was born in Denver, Colorado, and grew up surrounded by art. Her parents were both artists, her mother made ceramics and her father was a painter, and she also visited art museums and galleries often throughout her childhood. Woodman learned Italian when her family moved to Italy for a short period of time and returned to Rome in her study-abroad year at the Rhode Island School of Design.

Woodman suffered from depression, though many friends of hers said that Woodman didn’t show it and continued making her abstract photos all the way up until a few weeks before her death. Her depression slowly ate up her motivation in life, and eventually overtook her passion in photography.

We may not be able to ever figure out the meaning or intention behind Francesca Woodman’s photographs, but her legacy will always be remembered.

Source Article: https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20211209-francesca-woodman-the-eerie-images-of-a-teenage-genius