Gorgeous Women Packing Heat in Hotchkiss Show

The book “Chicks With Guns” has been around since 2011, and the photographs have been exhibited widely since its publication. Though the images are not new — the pictures by Lindsay McCrum (who was in the class of 1975 at Hotchkiss) in the current exhibit at the Tremaine Gallery at The Hotchkiss School  are just as germane today as any day. 

These photographs might have been taken anytime in the last 50 years. According to the statement at the beginning of the show there are 15-20 million female gun owners in the United States. The photographs are almost luscious — large, elegant prints (some blown up to movie poster size) of mostly well dressed, perfectly coiffed and made-up women with their favorite guns. The women are sportswomen, hunters, competition shooters and a policewoman. Each uses her gun for a different reason. The exhibit’s introduction says, “The firearms presented here are not superimposed props but the very personal accessories of the women portrayed.”  

Each image is accompanied by a statement by the woman holding the gun. In what is one of the most compelling portraits of the entire show, a pretty and unsmiling young blonde woman in a bridal gown stands on a Aubusson-like carpet in an ornate pastel colored sitting room under a crystal chandelier. She is  holding an antique wooden handled, single shot dueling pistol limply at her side. The bride, Jenevieve, from San Antonio, Texas, says in her statement that shooting was not really her thing until she ended up in a competition with some other girls at a historical event on a ranch. She tried to impress her blind date and says, “I of course wanted to impress my date Frank, who I was already smitten with. In the first heat I knocked out three girls. He later told me that’s when he knew it was over for him. … All it took was a guy to steal my heart for shooting to steal mine.” The gun she holds, a family heirloom, was a wedding present from her father. But, she says,  “I wouldn’t want anyone to think that it was a shotgun wedding!” 

All of the pictures, the women and their statements are compelling, but what’s the viewer to think? It is not the photographer’s job to have an opinion, but all  great photographers do have their own point of view. “Chicks With Guns” left me wondering if these soft, luminous, lovely prints want to express an opinion. The retired guy who works as a docent at the desk in the gallery had an opinion — unbidden, he was anxious to share it with me. He told me that all women need guns today to protect themselves. 

Me, I have never seen a gun I wish I owned. 

“Chicks With Guns” is at The Tremaine Gallery at the Hotchkiss School, 11 Interlaken Rd. Lakeville CT, until June 16. www.hotchkiss.org/arts