Strong Women: An Exhibition Celebrating Women’s Strength

By photographer Alistair Guy curated by the Zebra One Gallery

Published on11th November 2016 at 2.28pm

The Café Royal on Regent Street, one of the legendary homes of glamour at the heart of the West End, is the setting for a showcase of work by young Photographer Alistair Guy celebrating the strength and beauty of women in the fashion, film and music worlds. It’s a fascinating study into the power of photography to show women’s beauty and strength through still life imagery. It runs from the 10th November until 21st December before transferring to the Zebra One Gallery in Hampstead.

The duality of women’s nature and it’s reflection of inner beauty is explored through the medium of black and white images giving focus to the subtle nuances of expression, smiles, strands of hair, light and shadow that all play their part in crystallising the vision of women’s beauty. There are moments of quiet reflection, moments of joy, bliss and silent ecstasy that communicate the strength and power of beauty shining through from the inner self.

Alistair explains: “Women mentally are terribly strong, but they are also fragile. I believe there is an incredible beauty in this dichotomy. The Strong Women project is a celebration of femininity as well as a celebration of each person and their character.”

Shot in London, New York and Los Angeles, the photographs are powerful representations of womanhood and come with headline messages from the women themselves. Hollywood stars such as Melanie Griffiths and her mother Tippi Hedren feature alongside British Fashion stars Savannah Miller, Jade Parfitt, Daphne Guinness, Jan de Villeneuve, Tamsin Egerton and magazine founder Elizabeth von Guttman.

Tippi Hedren, star of legendary Hitchcock horror film The Birds, declares: “Lose that fear, from wherever it comes! Fear is a killer, in so many ways..” Her daughter Griffiths is central to the exhibition and opens up about her daily battle against the fakery of Hollywood and being true to herself. “Strength for me, is being able to live honestly. Living my truth and not making up a good story for myself. Daring to change every day to become closer to that Inner Self. That's strong to me.”

Tippi Hedren was photographed in November 2015 and after shooting daughter Melanie Griffiths, Alistair also hopes to photograph granddaughter Dakota Johnson in a break in her hectic filmmaking schedule. Tippi’s daughter Tracey Griffiths also supports the project.

Another pivotal figure in this celebrated cast is Daphne Selfe the world’s oldest working Supermodel and close collaborator of Alistair. At 88 she shuns retirement and is in high demand travelling the world to feature in a number of high profile advertising campaigns. She urges women to “Ignore their Age”, “I think a strong person has confidence in themselves, how they look and what they can do, even if they are limited physically through age or disability."

Zebra One Gallery art curator, Gabrielle du Plooy added: “We’re thrilled to be putting together this important exhibition, celebrating the feminist reclamation of femininity. Too often, masculinity is equated with power, strength and success, but this show celebrates and embraces empowering femininity, which has been swept beneath the carpet for too long.”

Shot in black and white on the camera that he bought during art school, Alistair spent nine months developing the project. Coincidentally Jade Parfitt, Tamsin Edgerton and film maker Greta Bellamacina were eight months pregnant when photographed, adding emphasis to women’s beautiful strength. The images are almost untouched in contrast to the highly manipulated digital images we see all around us. The raw beauty of art in real life and the honest truth in this is key for Alistair.

Jade Parfitt and Savannah Miller both share sentiments that self-knowledge and self-acceptance are key to finding a sense of self contentment to live confident empowered lives. There is something that we can all take from this. A pause to reflect and focus on inner strength empowers each and every one of us in our lives and enables us to become the best version of ourselves.

The exhibit runs from the 10th November until 21st December at the celebrated Café Royal on Regent Street and is free to attend. For more information please visit alistairguy.com or contact Charli Morgan at The Cult PR 0207 620 0063.