Unit 2 - Identity

Final Piece Outcome
For my final piece outcome, I decided to create a series of images and choose a select few which I would then burn. I decided to do this instead of recapturing them underwater like I did in previous iterations, such as my work on Andreas Poupoutsis. This is because I was inspired by the movements of the water, but wanted to recapture it in the folds and shadows of the fabric instead. I chose to use fabric to express the concept of hidden Identity and of obscuring who you are behind your exterior expressions and appearance. The reason that I captured images of my model's head is because a person's personality and sense of Identity is embodied most by the head and face, and therefore more clearly carried the narrative than any other part of the body. Also, the fabric covering the eyes and the mouth represent the feeling of not being able to represent yourself and who you are. The act of burning away the face tries to communicate the erosion of identity, and strongly signifies the emotion behind loss and disempowerment. My inspiration for these pieces came from the photographers Laurence Demaison and Andreas Poupoutsis. The main precedent was Andreas Poupoutsis, as I used his experimentation with fabric in my work. Laurence Demaison experimented mainly with water and that is why I decided to use it in my pieces. Taken from both artists however is the sense of hidden Identity used in their work by masking what the figure really looks like behind the disguise. I really enjoyed the process of assembling my final images and eventually chose these final three from a series as I felt they spoke to me the most, especially when placed together as a tryptic. In one of these images, I asked my model to smile. You can almost see which one it is, but the fabric is masking it well. This symbolises how easy it is to hide your emotions and what you are really feeling inside.



