Modalities of Portraiture and the Construction of Identity
Part 1
Brief: Explore varied approached to portraiture and consider it’s relationship with constructing identity. Ensure that you explore both a documentary and studio approach which may share ideas or may be approached in an entirely different way. For these ways of working you will need to undertake research. This assignment will be split into two parts.
Part 1: Research and explore documentary approaches. You will need to consider the context in which you will make portraits, and your relationship with this. You might consider documenting your family at home, or your sport team. Beyond consent, consider what the experience of being photographed might be like? How is this the similar and different from smartphone images on SM?
Documentary:
For this sequence of images we were asked to take a documentary approach. I interpreted this and worked with one model in a number of different environments within the city. This was to show variation and differences within the city. One of the inspirations for this work was Cocu Liu as his work with city street photography. To me street photography can be used in a multitude of ways from Architecture photography to Documentary. This gave me the idea to use it to show all the different environments that we have within Tāmaki Makaurau, and use a model to allow all the images to relate to each other.
Portrait:
In this series of images it was asked that we do a self portrait with our own twist. Mine came from accidental exploration where I had put an older lens on a newer camera body which created a dark ring around the photographs that I took. I really enjoyed the look of these photographs and thought that it tied in well with the brief. When I took photos of my friends and brothers and it reflected the way I see myself as it is through others and the important people around me that I see who I am. The ring also focus on them and directs the viewers eye to them. I chose to have only half their face showing as it allows room for wonder and curiosity as when you meet someone you never fully know them.
Part 2
Part 2: Choose works from Part 1 to continue to develop using video works. At the end display and present your final works in studio.
Muted
This is a video work focusing on identity and the societal pressures that are put on women. I chose to display this through makeup - a mask that is common among the women and feminine presenting people of today, as it is sometimes forced upon them through societal pressures to look and act a certain way.
Originally I was just going to project a video work onto a wall but it felt like it was missing something. Then I came up with the idea to incorporate multiple different mediums into my work. I chose still image as that was the one I was most comfortable with.
This is the image which I chose to display hanging in front of the projected video. I chose this image as it was the opposite of the video. The video was revealing, constructed to the view of others and not what the subject wanted. The still image however shows only what the model wants the viewer to see. It is what they chose to wear, how to sit and how to act. This was a good image to project the video work onto as it speaks about how often the societal view is the one on top, the one that everyone sees and wants to seen.
Originally I wanted to print it on transparent paper, however with logistics I wasn’t able to print on the paper that I had originally planned, so it didn’t turn out to be as transparent as hoped. However I knew there was a high chance of this happening and went ahead anyway as I believe that the final outcome of the piece still showed was I was trying to tell.
Projection Video Work with Still Image Installed
Boxes
This is a series of portraits also linking to identity, continuing on from the previous brief. This series of images came about when I accidentally put a non-native lens on a camera which resulted in a dark circle forming around the edge of the image in my first series of works. Originally I planned to continue that way of working as I saw it coming from the viewers eye. However I decided to switch to the square box as I felt it also related to my ideas, but gave me more room/image to work with.
Only half of the face of each model is present as my idea was that you never really know someone, therefore your brain makes up the rest. From expressions, background, lighting etc. These images are just a window into another person’s world.
The order that these images are displayed here are the order they are displayed when installed.
