Koko Furlong

Artist information

Koko has a double concentration in the Art Department at the University of Redlands, with photography as her primary focus. Since Koko was a kid, she was amazed to see how a photograph could defeat time and take one back to their most emotional moments. She started her photography journey during her travels as a kid when her mom handed her a camera. Since then, Koko has worked freelance shooting sports and lifestyle photography, has traveled to Austria to photograph a music festival in the Konzerthaus, Vienna, and has photos published in Big Life Magazine in Sun Valley, Idaho, where she was born.

Website: https://kokofurlongphoto.myportfolio.com

Email: kokofurlongphotography@gmail.com

Artist statement

My work aims to create an environment for women to feel unapologetic for who they are, to subvert sexualization of the body and conventional beauty standards to reveal how deeply sexism and other biases are embed in mainstream American culture. Growing up alongside social media, I felt as though I had to fall into a certain category and fumble with the ever-evolving self-image constructed by social standards. As a portrait photographer I create a space for my models to feel confident in front of me. I urge them to give into vulnerability and make unapologetic contact with the lens that many shy away from outside of the studio. This body of work plays with the relationship between dramatic shadows and light and how these aspects can enhance the human form. Each print leads the viewer on a journey of the often-missed details of the human body that is viewed at various angles and under different light sources. The sharp shadows cast on the subjects’, weave between bone indents, curves, down to an individual goosebump. This series of images intentionally highlights the overlooked areas of the body to draw attention to the beauty of skin that makes us all human and to introduce a world of confidence where openness with one’s body is not associated with sexualization.