As well as producing original images, I also decided to use images from my own childhood and the childhood of members of my family. I feel that by using real images from the past, the documentary style of photography that Murtha exhibited in her own work, will show through more genuinely in mine.

The below images are the ones I selected to use as part of my identity project:

(all subjects in the above photographs gave consent for their images to be used)

In order to convey the message that different factors can influence how the identity of children develops, I have developed a range of photo-montages in order to split each image into 2; one side conveying the identity of the child, and the second showing the factors that influenced the child (such as parents, environment e.t.c). The final results can be seen below:

 

For the above images, I took a bit of inspiration from the photo-montage artist Peter Kennard, yet the style of photography remains documentary, and so inspiration is also taken from Murtha.

I used archival images, as they provide more opportunity to use photographs including children as subject, which is required for my project. Using these images also allows for me to focus on the editing process, which, for the archival images, I have decided is the p[process that I will use to make reference to how external factors influence child’s development of identity. The above images explore the idea of loss, imitation, and the idea that children copy what they see their role models act out.