Photomanipulation nominee

This series is an evocative narrative of female puberty, a time between two worlds... I carefully stage my shots and draw on my digital compositing skills to illustrate the myriad of contradictory fears and desires at play during this complex stage of development. By placing my lightly dressed models in incongruous wintery landscapes, I strive to stress the unsettling strangeness that characterizes the delicate and often confusing passage from girlhood to womanhood. In short, my intention is to give poetic voice and imagery to the experience of growing up female.

Catherine Rondeau is a Montreal-based Canadian fine art photographer and videographer. Born in 1971 in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, she grew up in Sherbrooke, Québec, in a predominantly French-speaking milieu. After completing an Arts and Letters program in junior college, she went on to receive a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in photography from Montreal's Concordia University. Her combined skills in writing and lens work allowed her to carve out a career as a freelance video journalist. In 2010, Rondeau earned a Master’s degree in Communication from the Université du Québec à Montréal. The following year, she published an essay on the concept of fantasy in folklore and fairy tales. Inspired by her research, she made a return to photography with an initial series of digital photomontages (Beyond the Looking Glass) that focuses on the imaginary world of children. In her latest series (Northern Crossing), the artist naturally transitioned to explore the period of early adolescence.