BioTabitha Barnard is a photographer who grew up as the oldest of four sisters in rural Maine. She works primarily in analog color photography, exploring themes of femininity, religion, and ritual. She received her Bachelor of Fine Art from the Maine College of Art in the Spring of 2016 and her Master's degree in Fine Art Photography from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in the Spring of 2021. Tabitha currently lives and works in Portland, Maine, teaching at the Maine College of Art and the University of Southern Maine. Artist StatementI was raised as the oldest of four sisters in midcoast Maine, and most of our playing was done only with each other. Together we found hours of entertainment from folk and fairytales. Playing in the ocean, old forts, and forests, we created our own myths and reenacted existing ones. I continue to be deeply inspired by the themes of ritual, femininity, and fantasy. My sisters, and in-laws are my primary models, and the landscape of rural Maine serves as the backdrop for my photographs. Revisiting locations we explored as children, now as adults, still pretending. Many of the fairytales and fantasies I read as a child were disguised morality lessons, warning of calamities and punishments that could befall women for their missteps. My photographs explore the myths that emerged from our childhood and reflect my own femininity, spirituality, and sexuality. By blending elements of reality and imagination, documentary and staged images, I create a world that is both hyperrealistic and dreamlike. My family members portray various characters: in play, we are free to exercise a level of control or power not afforded to us in quotidian life. In this fantastical dimension, there are no punishments or morality lessons.