Pascal Shirley
Oakland Girls
2006
Oakland Girls
Like many of Pascal Shirley’s photographs, Oakland Girls aestheticizes a dingy rooftop and a cloudy sky. The women in the photograph exist ambiguously here. The photograph’s title, the subject’s outfits, and their environment suggest that they are both trapped and glorified within their position. Visually, they are hemmed in by the rooftop’s walls, and one is unsure where they turn next.
Pascal Shirley's photographs portray a California of beaches, music festivals, families, and hipsters wandering through the hills. Shirley also shoots commercially, and this dual practice is evident in his art photographs. His subjects are often attractive and well-dressed, and his compositions framed and illuminated accordingly. Shirley's photographs are understood most readily in the context of portrait photography. Many of his images draw the viewer's attention to the personality and history of the subject.