‹We are surrounded and overwhelmed by the face that pleases or should please. In advertisements, magazines, TV, online and offline, the face is forever present. We live in a world of the selfie, the faces that please the taker of the image, defining what they believe they look like or should (or could) look like with the purpose of being ‹liked›.
In contrast, this series, ‹forget not, recollect›, presents a different take on the portrait. Following a ‹black mirror› principal, the subjects were placed in front of their own image, a reflection in glass, which in turn alters the dynamic of the face that wants to be seen on the outside to a deeper more personal ‹inner› portrait. It is these inner faces of the subjects that interest.
Through the procedure, the faces stop seeking to please the sitter (subject). Rather they become almost transparent, open, vulnerable, a window into a more personal world.
The experience in the time taken for the portrait (60-90sec.) is as if the poetical ‹I› comes to the surface from behind the outer face. A lightened essence of the person and the ‹things› that occupy within. It is as if we look into the portrait, the sitter, to where fear, pain, pleasure, love and loss, and memories dwell with the intention of creating a moment to reflect.
The portraits themselves are directly printed on museum glass to heighten further the element of material but also to emphasise transparency and fragility.
In contrast, this series, ‹forget not, recollect›, presents a different take on the portrait. Following a ‹black mirror› principal, the subjects were placed in front of their own image, a reflection in glass, which in turn alters the dynamic of the face that wants to be seen on the outside to a deeper more personal ‹inner› portrait. It is these inner faces of the subjects that interest.
Through the procedure, the faces stop seeking to please the sitter (subject). Rather they become almost transparent, open, vulnerable, a window into a more personal world.
The experience in the time taken for the portrait (60-90sec.) is as if the poetical ‹I› comes to the surface from behind the outer face. A lightened essence of the person and the ‹things› that occupy within. It is as if we look into the portrait, the sitter, to where fear, pain, pleasure, love and loss, and memories dwell with the intention of creating a moment to reflect.
The portraits themselves are directly printed on museum glass to heighten further the element of material but also to emphasise transparency and fragility.
Shot on 120mm 6×6 slide film. Hasselblad 500c/m, 80mm lens.
Black wood framed, print on 6mm museum glass, gold reflective card, 40x40cm. Edition of 5 + 2 AP.
