March 4th, 2024

Prompt: “Fangirl”

Tessa Moldan, Joseph Hyland

Joseph Hyland

When I read the prompt, I kept swirling that word in my head. Something about the word’s origin, “fanatic”. In my life so far, the moment that sticks out to me as having almost been defined by that word is the Lockdowns. Consuming media and content every day of our lives, 10x what we normally might. We all become fangirls of *some* creator. This was my attempt to put myself in the shoes of another fan base. Spend my day doing what someone might have done during the early pandemic days.
Turn off their mind.
Ignore the real world.
And focus just a little too damn much time on a celebrity.
- @reskat.orion

Your biggest fan
Collage
Portland, Maine
03/04/24

Tessa Moldan

Fangirl: ‘A girl or woman who is an extremely or overly enthusiastic fan of someone or something.’
My sense of unease that arose when given this prompt made me reflect on my very British restraint on being overly zealous, and how such labels can be used to devalue women’s displays of emotion. I started thinking about the restraint that exists in my own painting practice, and how it is often in the fringe spaces unseen to anyone but me, such as my trusty painting rag, where this zealousness exists unfiltered and unrestrained. I’m learning to lean into that more and more.
- @tclarem

Untitled
Photograph

Brighton, England
03/04/24