Kristyn Jones, Mighty Girls (Portrait (2018))

How is a girl supposed to be? In those delicate years traversing the chasm between “big girl” and “young woman”, a girl must struggle to find herself. Whether she looks to television, glossy magazines, music videos or social media, the world is awash with mixed messages. Mighty, then, is the girl who forges her own path; who considers everything available to her and has the courage to be, simply, herself. In this series of portraits of my daughter and her close friends, I wanted to capture the defiance and determination of these young girls, but also their vivaciousness and humour. It is there in unexpected touches, like a hunting rifle and dead rabbit or a retro skateboard, as well as in quotidian details, like a pair of gumboots that are a touch too big, evoking the young womanhood these girls teeter on the precipice of.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.