Director and photographer Clare Plueckhahn has recently produced a personal series, Running With Wolves, portraying stripped-back images of women set against rugged habitats.

Inspired by the ‘wild feminine archetype’, Clare travelled to Iceland and the USA to capture images of women in untouched, ‘prehistoric’ landscapes. Oh, and she was heavily pregnant at the time!

Pictured on standing mountain tops, lying curled over in desert sands and draped carefully over jagged rocks, Clare poses her subjects as multifaceted heroines; strong and vulnerable at the same time. ‘The world is so full of hyper-sexualised portrayals of women, and I ultimately wanted to turn this on its head and observe the feminine the way we would a wild animal – with awe and respect,’ explains Clare.

After giving birth to twin girls in June last year, Clare took six months away from the series, during which time her feelings toward the direction of the final product shifted. ‘Once I resurfaced into the world, I felt like I was viewing the series for the first time, and actually changed a lot of my original selects’, she admitted. Having watched her body go through a twin pregnancy and birth, Clare has developed a ‘new respect for how incredible and powerful the female body is’.

Originally she wasn’t planning on including her own portrait in the series – naked and heavy with her babies, looking out to the vista of Death Valley National Park stretched out before her – but ultimately felt the presence of a pregnant woman ‘suddenly very important’ to completing the series. We totally agree!

Running With Wolves  by Clare Plueckhahn
April 5th to May 2nd
JCP Studios
Weekdays 9am-5pm
51/57 Cubitt Street
Cremorne, Victoria