{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1762051"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1762051/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2024NV3640/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2024NV3640/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2024NV3640","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1762051","accessionNumber":"PH.434-2023","objectType":"photograph","titles":[{"title":"'Girls in Sand'","type":""},{"title":"Girls in Sand","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"In her seminal project Girl Pictures (1999–2002), the American photographer Justine Kurland created an all-female utopia in which ‘solidarity between girls offered intimacy and protection, where girls were made stronger through the presence of other girls’. Kurland is known for her work inspired by the tradition of the American road trip, and this series was captured in various bucolic locations across the US; landscapes that she reclaims from the masculine mythology of cowboys and outlaws and delivers to an anti-patriarchal community of defiant, fearless young women. Her highly staged, almost performative images were created collaboratively with the teenagers, who were cast as adventurous ‘runaways’, playing with the trope of the troublesome teen on the cusp of womanhood. In <i>Girls in Sand</i>, Kurland portrays groups of young women strewn across a sandy bank. Many are embracing, in an act that can be read as both sensual and sisterly, alluding to the defining experimentation of sexuality in coming-of-age.","physicalDescription":"A photograph of young women on the beach. Some are embracing. ","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Kurland, Justine","id":"AUTH392183"},"association":{"text":"photographer","id":"x43821"},"note":"Justine Kurland (1969) was born in Warsaw, New York. As a teenager, she moved to Manhattan with hopes of becoming an artist. She obtained her M.F.A. from Yale University in 1998. Her childhood adventures and nomadic lifestyle have shaped her photographic practice, in particular her works which reference the American road trip and provide an alternative to the hyper masculinity of the American landscape. Her seminal series ‘Girl Pictures’ (1997 – 2002) was inspired by her own experiences of being a teenage runaway and involved casting schoolgirls in highly staged scenes representing a feminist utopia. A book of the work was published by MACK in 2020. The birth of her son in 2004 shifted her focus towards motherhood and was published in a book titled ‘The Train’ in 2024. Her recent series, SCUMB Manifesto, continues to make space for women by transforming books by canonized male photographers through the destruction and reparation of photocollage. "}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"","categories":[],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"DOP","id":"THES291628"},"images":["2024NV3640"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"514","id":"THES49549"},"free":"","case":"TR","shelf":"8","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"photograph","id":"AAT46300"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[],"productionDates":[],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Gift of anonymous lovers","dimensions":[],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Photograph by Justine Kurland, 'Girls in Sand', from the series 'Girl Pictures', 2002. ","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["PH.434-2023"],"accessionNumberNum":"434","accessionNumberPrefix":"PH","accessionYear":2023,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-08-11","recordCreationDate":"2023-08-08","availableToBook":false}}