Lot #20: Justine Kurland

Justine Kurland

Girls Curled Up, 1997

Archival inkjet print

Edition: 1 of 10

25 x 35 inches

Courtesy of the artist and Higher Pictures Generation

Estimated value: $6,500

Starting bid: $4,550

Justine Kurland (American, b. 1969)

For her series Girl Pictures (1997-2002), Justine Kurland staged photographs of teenage girls in the context of an imagined narrative where they ran away from home and formed a community on the fringes of society. The images—taken in both urban and wilderness settings—picture a space where the female experience is foregrounded and affirmed outside of the constraints of social expectations, countering traditionally masculine mythologies about the American landscape.

Justine Kurland received her MFA in Photography from Yale University (1998). She was a resident with Light Work in 2017 and has had work exhibited at Museum of Modern Art, New York; Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; International Center of Photography, New York; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.; and many others. Kurland has published seven books, most recently SCUMB Manifesto (2022) and This Train with Mack in 2024.