There Are Some Hot Mammas Up In Here

Growing up, Sinjun Strom, who is Latina, never felt she could relate to the body types gracing the pages of fashion magazines. Now, in her work as a photographer, she says she makes a point to make images that she would “like to be seeing out in the world.” Her series, “Hot Mamma,” currently on display at Photoville, aims to create an experience where women from different age groups and backgrounds can “feel themselves” while they are being photographed.

Storm says that she has always included “bits of her personal interests” in her projects. “Hot Mamma” is no exception. The women featured in the photographs “are all characters that represent the type of person I envision myself to be in the future,” says Strom. She predicts that as the years pass, her sense of fashion will become amplified: “Patterns and colors will clash, my dress will match the curtains, the wallpaper will match my nails, and I will be fully immersed in my own little world.”

To give a sense of this upcoming experience to her viewers, she personally builds and styles each space photographed for “Hot Mamma.” After the portrait is made, whatever scene she created is given a new life in the photograph, and she disposes of the creation. “It’s a wonderful feeling when you are able to build a set that fills an entire room for 3 hours, take a photo of it, and then destroy it,” says Strom. Thus, making photography is a cleansing process for Strom. “‘Hot Mamma,’ has given me the opportunity to maintain my happiness,” says the artist, and simultaneously creates a space in which an underappreciated, and underrepresented, demographic can feel in control of their visibility.

Sinjun Strom is a visual artist whose analog photographs preserve her constructed worlds and characters. She received her BFA in Photography from the School of Visual Arts and is currently based out of Brooklyn, NY.

Follow Strom on Instagram.

Hot Mamma
By Sinjum Strom
Curated by Jim Estrin and David Gonzalez
Photoville
September 13-16 & 20-23, 2018