Plan

My plan is to create pieces of work based on how a person’s identity is shaped through their upbringing, genes and their parents & family.  I have planned to use archival imagery of my family, in particular my Mum and I, and create a series of photo-montages based on different features and genes which I have inherited from my Mum and also incorporate things that are different between us, such as: different features on the face or hair when we were both growing up. I am interested in physically taking old & new photos, cutting/ripping them apart and putting back together, taking out parts, sewing things in order to create something new out of it. This demonstrates the way in which old traits and genes from parents are passed onto the child and although they become influenced by many different things, their physical and personality traits are mostly  handed down from their parents.

I have found various photos of the two of us when we were aging and growing up. I also found some photos that are eerily similar, despite having been taken 30-40-50 years apart. These are the photos I have used to make my photo-montages from. There is a variety of photos of me, my mum, my uncle & my mum and me & my brother. There are also a variety of black and white, and color photos. Some are passport, school and Polaroid photos, and others  are just simply photos which have been randomly taken. I think this is a good mix to have in order to create more diversity in the photo-montages.

Case Studies

I have done case studies on Annegret Soltau & Joachim Schmidt and I am influenced by their work and the methods they have used in order to create it. Annegret’s timeline of her daughter & grandmothers bodies was thought provoking to me, and I have decided to develop my work along same lines as her. My photos reflect that my mum and I  have done similar things, taken the same photos but just in a different time and with different people, and I want that to be able to be seen through my work.