Consider the Tomboy – independent, adventurous, outdoors, free, pertaining to elements of social surprise. Climbing trees; cutting up worms; might be the stuff a girl who wouldn’t be seen dead playing with dolly’s gets up to, but does this render her a Tomboy? What clues contribute to our impression of a girl who is a Tomboy, when not observed outdoors roughing it up and behaving akin to a ‘rambunctious boy’ – a Hoyden?

Wildfang is an exploration into the territory of tomboyism and shines a torch on its under representation beyond childhood in popular culture. Through photography and conversations with self identified Tomboys, the work responds to the literal experience of the tomboy through differing stages of adulthood, whilst mapping the landscape of the metaphorical and poetic associations of this aspect of the female experience.