Don't underestimate Southern women: 'Southern Belladona' matches beauty with beast

“Never underestimate women, especially Southern women,” emphasized photographer Claire Barrett. “With the humidity, weather, bugs, creepy-crawlies and all those venomous things, women here are very strong and capable, far from frail.”

Barrett celebrates this ethos of strength in “Southern Belladonna” her first solo exhibition at Location Gallery on Saturday evening. Her archival, large print color photographs depict women paired with an endemic animal of the South, placed in everyday domestic scenes harkening to the early 1960s.

“Southern Belladonna” runs April 22 through May 15.

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Claire Barrett landed in Savannah by way of United Kingdom and Los Angeles. A film school graduate of England’s University of Lincoln, she became interested in photography during her early years in L.A. working as set designer. A friend encouraged her to pick up a film camera, and together they explored and photographed Death Valley and Anza Borrego Desert.

“I loved capturing the extremes of the desert as it hinted at a story,” recalled Barrett. “I’m a storyteller, and my images aren’t about going out with a camera and taking pretty pictures. In the work I create, I want people to wonder what is going on, what is the deeper story?”

For the next 20 years, Barrett fashioned a reputation for being one of Los Angeles’s most sought after photographers for luxury events, commercial shoots and international high-end weddings. Now, Barrett regularly photographs the Miami Grand Prix and travels the world for discriminating brides who seek out her work. Weddings in Ireland, the South of France and numerous locations across Europe are featured through her lens.

But the go-go lifestyle of Los Angeles started to lose its shine. After a few visits to the Hostess City in 2019, Barrett bought a house and hasn’t looked back.

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“Savannah is home base now,” said Barrett. “California is spectacular, but it is exhausting, especially when you’re working. And I was always working, you have to in Los Angeles, spending three hours a day in the car at least. The constant hustle is draining, and I never had time to create fine art. Here in Savannah I’ve finally found the downtime and inspiration to focus on fine art photography.”

After film school and more than 20 years in the upper echelons of commercial photography, Barrett finally has her own solo show.

“Belladonna” is a play on words running through the exhibition. Literally translated, belladonna is a beautiful woman, but belladonna is also a type of toxic, and sometimes lethal plant. In composing photographs, Barrett wanted to pair beautiful women with potentially deadly animals found in the South.

“My aim is to highlight the strength and capability of southern women, my perception of that,” clarified Barrett. “I moved here and was in awe of how women navigate the humidity and all the bugs and still are so put together, calm and undeterred. The sets for the images are period-based, like Jackie Kennedy, late 50s and early 60s. This time frame, really, was the last time that women had to look and behave a certain way, the last era where women had codes and where she was expected to be housewife. But never underestimate women, the power teeming beneath our surfaces.”

One stand out portrait is of a woman lounging poolside. Her hair is wrapped in beige head cover, her hand shielding a glass of chardonnay. An open-mouthed alligator leers beside her. Though the image is photo-shopped to include the large reptile, it is done seamlessly as if to suggest the woman herself has tamed this otherwise deadly animal into subservience and protector of the house.

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“I knew which animals went with each model and researched painstakingly stock photos to see what would fit best in the composition in terms of angle and position,” said Barrett. “I spent 40 hours retouching the animal in one of the photos to make sure the light quality and angle of it matched the model and scene I fit in into.”

The scenes Barrett composes employ Savannah-local models, though a few have relocated for school since the shoot. And with the exception of one home and pool in the Buckhead area of Atlanta, all other locations were shot at Savannah homes. She anticipates a couple of the models returning to celebrate the show’s opening as well as “quite a contingency of support from Los Angeles coming in.”

But more than anything, Barrett is grateful for the time living in Savannah and how it has benefitted her in pursuing fine art concepts.

“I’ve found Savannah to be quite magical,” considered Barrett. “It’s my first solo exhibition ever, and that’s really something. Savannah has allowed me to take a step back and embrace being an artist. And I’m so thankful for the opportunity at Location Gallery. I liked coming up with the concept and working with a team of hair and make up stylists to compose what I envision. You absolutely must have a team to do this. And all images are for sale, limited edition, 24 X 36 in., custom framed. These are the only ones in this series to exist, and unlike the strength of Southern women, once they’re gone, they are gone.”

IF YOU GO

What: Southern Belladonna

Where: Location Gallery, 251 Bull Street, Savannah

When: Saturday from 4-7 p.m.

Cost: Free

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah GA art: Southern Belladona, Claire Barrett, Location Gallery