Business profile: commercial photographer Maxine Helfman

Maxine Helfman has been a commercial photographer for twelve years, and started producing fine art in 2012. Helfman’s art places people of color within portrait styles that are historically within the realm of the European elite. This strong statement of racial, social, and civil inequality provides a dialogue on the current civil rights issues of today, displaying African-American men and women as high level Flemish noblemen during an era where slavery and the dehumanization of mankind is a compelling testimony on race and class relations. When Helfman began showcasing fine art, she shot portraits in the style of Flemish master painters, using primarily African-American models. Once she concepts a project, she spends time securing the wardrobe and casting, and finally producing it very similar to what she would do on a commercial shoot.

Helfman’s subjects in her highly regarded “Historical Correction” series wear the same detached appearances of 17^th-century noblemen and women in portraits commissioned from artists like Frans Hals. She wanted to create historical documentation of a population that never was. Her photos are a contradiction to the stories of inequality that are being told in protests across the United States. Helfman states, “when I shot them I had the same inspirations, but we didn’t have the issues that were so highly charged as we’re dealing with now racially. In my lifetime, I’ve seen them come up over and over and then something inflames them again, and it just shows you we haven’t gotten there.” “There” meaning equality.

Helfman feels extremely grateful to have found a field she is passionate about for a livelihood with her commercial work, and desires to use her fine art to make a statement and create conversation about issues she feels strongly about. “We live in a time of necessary conversation, and by looking at things from a different perspective, I hope it will inspire those conversations,” says Helfman. If the images can resonate in a way that documentary or photojournalism might not, or in conjunction with, and it inspires a new kind of dialogue, it will accomplish the purpose. Helfman feels as part of the bigger picture, if we continue to address issues of race and inequality, maybe we as a society will eliminate it for future generations.

She enjoys provoking the audience by placing her subjects in unexpected situations, many involving clothing and culture. One series put young boys in dresses and invited viewers to interpret what and who they were seeing. Images from another series depict Black women in black face paint dressed as geishas. Helfman states, “the longer the series has been out, the more even she understands the layers, especially when she hears other’s reaction and comments. They just take a life of their own.”

As a commercial photographer, she often plays with notions of power and what should be included within her fine artwork. Her mentors were mainly the photographers whose books she studied and still studies today. She feels there has been and continues to be such great work created in photography that it is always a source of inspiration. Helfman draws inspiration from the work of Carrie Mae Weems, Pieter Hugo, Richard Mosse and Jackie Nickerson to name a few. She has the intrinsic ability to use gender and race as a means to educate and make viewers think.

Atlanta Free Speech salutes Maxine Helfman.

To view Maxine’s Historical Correction series and other artwork please click here.

Connect with Maxine: Facebook, Pinterest, Website

Source: CNN