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Alix
Smith
“Constructed Identities”
This body of work explores the concept of constructed identity and
to what extent society determines how people will live their lives.
I am using formal portraiture, the cinemagraphic genre and the archive
in order to subvert the language, and speak about the lack of individuality
within the greater society.
As we become active members of our community we become entangled in
social roles, obligations and limits. As one concedes small personal
desires in order to appease one’s social group, one begins to
feel boxed in, conformity perpetuates itself and as time goes by one
accepts ones life regardless of the original intention.
Historically, traditional portraiture’s function was to illustrate
the subject’s uniqueness, displaying the subject’s wealth,
class, status, and profession. Mimicking the classic portrait, the
subject’s hands rest together, their legs or ankles are crossed,
and they are sitting up straight. The subjects are presenting themselves
to the camera in a formulaic way. Through camera angle, lighting and
framing, the background begins to seem like a stage or movie set.
The subjects are positioned in the foreground in order to separate
them from their surroundings. Placing the viewer outside of the space.
Through repetition I am taking the aura away from the portrait as
a precious object, as well as dismantling the uniqueness of the individual,
and controlling the reception of their legacy. One image can be interchanged
with the next, and the individual becomes one of many. The subjects
function like objects in a still life, in a beautifully designed interior,
in order to represent the idea of social conformity. |
Constructed Identities
24" x 28"
2003 |
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