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.