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Controlled Conditions, Independent

Identity and Place – Claude Cahun comparrison

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Claude Cahun

Intro – ‘Claude Cahun, born Lucy Renee Mathilde Schwob, was a French lesbian photographer, sculptor and writer. Schwob adopted the pseudonym Claude Cahun in 1917 and is best known for self-portraits, in which Cahun assumed a variety of personae.’ – Wikipedia

Claude Cahun explored the idea of identity within lots of her portraits, such as gender/sexuality identity and self identity.

Here is one image that explores self identity and how Claude Cahun felt about her own identity.

This image by Claude Cahun is a double exposure portrait. (Double exposure – the repeated exposure of a photographic plate or film to light, often producing ghost images.) This would have been created by taking an original photograph, then taking another image using the same film that was just used to take the previous image. This creates the effect of the same person having multiple identities as the same subject appears twice in the image. The image is in black and white which creates a strong contrast between the lights and the shadows, adding depth to the image. The use of an un-detailed background also keeps the focus on the subject in the middle of the image.

Laura Williams

Intro – ‘My name is Laura and I’m a 24 year photographer and designer from a village in Suffolk, UK. I specialize in fine art portraits and natural, documentary style wedding photography.

I’m a storyteller. I use the art of photography to blur the lines between real life and fantasy to create unusual artworks and surreal worlds.’ – https://laurawilliamsphotography.co.uk/

Laura Williams also has a range of images portraying lack of/loss of identity. These images involve a mirror and a subject, and has been edited to symbolize the lack of the subjects identity –

This image by Laura Williams is of a girl holding a mirror sitting in a garden. This image has a shallow depth of field, created by having a wide aperture and focusing on the subject. Similarly to Claude Cahun. this draws attention to the subject in the centre of the image by having the edges out of focus and the centre sharp and in focus. The image has been edited in post to make the mirror being held to have a deeper meaning. Prior to taking the image with the subject in, an image was taken with the same framing but without the subject. This image was used to edit inside of the mirror, creating the effect that the mirror allows the viewer to see through the subject and all the way to the background. This links to the loss/lack of identity as it makes the subject seem as is shes not there. This contrasts to Claude Cahun’s meaning in the previous image becuase her image reflected the idea of having more than one identity, where as Laura Williams created the idea of not having an identity at all.

Controlled Conditions, Independent

Identity and place – Intro

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Identity – ‘the distinguishing character or personality of an individual : individuality : the relation established by psychological identification.’

Identity of a person or group can be influenced by their location, relationships with other, relations with themselves, things that are important to them, your environment or upbringing, gender identity, cultural identity, social identity, geographical identity, political identity, lack of or loss of identity

Lack of or loss of identity is what i am most interested in as i feel i can create photographs with deep meanings and metaphors to do with this type of identity.

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Controlled Conditions, Independent, Task

Identity and Place – Introduction

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What is identity?

Over the course of time, identity has come to mean several different things and people interpret the word in their own unique ways. A dictionary definition of the word will tell you identity is ‘the fact of being who or what a person or thing is,’ however identity is a word that holds many meanings. You may define identity as your culture, where you are from and how you’ve grown up- yet somebody else may have a completely opposite perception of the word such as identity meaning gender, personality or looks. Identity has been explored through photography for decades, it gives an understanding into people’s lives and beliefs by presenting them in their truth, or opposingly in how they want others to believe is true. Frequently, identity is changing and being influenced by our views on the world- some may say your identity is moulded by your surroundings and environment.

Identity Mood-board

Identity Mind-map

Initial Ideas

Personally, identity is influenced by countless things, but specifically upbringing and family. I like the idea of doing a project focusing on the identities and lives of my grandparents, as they have been extremely influential to me throughout my life and inspire me daily. I plan on documenting certain moments of their day and producing a sequence of images showing how their relationship is so important in their lives and mine. My concept is to demonstrate how family relationships and love can shape someone’s identity and how my grandparent’s past and upbringing has impacted my family today. To experiment with the ‘place’ aspect of this project I plan on experimenting with scenarios around my grandparent’s home as it is a place of safety and security for them, full of memories from over the years and things that bring them comfort. I want to show how identity is not only formed by our perception of our self- it is influenced by past memories of nostalgia and our changing passions in life.