Stephanie Jane Burt

Stephanie Jane Burt creates sculptural installations that references film, literature and fashion to unpack the narratives around feminism, girl culture and nouveau roman. With her profound attention to materiality and form, Burt has created a new body of work, Romance Report Letters, for the exhibition. Developing on her research around the narratives of female characters such as Lux Lisbon from The Virgin Suicides (1999) and Betty Draper from the television series Mad Men (2007), Burt delved into the genre of romance comics mainly published during the first three decades of the Cold War (1947-1977). In these stories, girls are often cast in a tragic plight in their pursuit for love and happiness. Referencing Girls’ Romances and Girls’ Love Stories, both published by DC Comics in the 50s, Burt takes archival images from these romance comic anthologies to reimagine the heroine and her passionate chronicles, recasting her away from a state of constant peril.