What is identity photography?

A photograph resembles the likeness of what appeared before the lens. So, in the case of a profile picture, family album or mug shot, identity is based on the repetition of sameness that is evidenced by the image produced by the camera.

Why is identity photography important in photography?

Defining your photographic identity will allow you to say who you are, what you want to be, and how you are to be perceived by others. This should be apparent to each viewer, regardless of whether they are a photographer or not. Your photographic identity will define how you will be perceived by the world around you.

How is cultural identity represented through photography?

By creating a photograph (cause something into being that is not naturally evolved, making a construction out of photography) instead of just making one (taking a photographs of something that was already there), the photographer is able to taken into account multiple views, both from their own and from the models.

How do portraits communicate identity?

In analysing a portrait, we need to consider how the sitter or subject sees themselves, how the world might see them, how the artist sees them, and how we, the viewer, see them. All these ideas come together to convey identity in a portrait.

What is cultural portrait?

An organization’s mission, values and beliefs are the background of the culture portrait. These formal written statements provide the basis for expected goals, behaviour and relationships within the organization.

Claude cahun:

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Claude Cahun created some of the most startlingly original and enigmatic photographic images of the twentieth century. Prefiguring by over seventy years many of the concerns explored by contemporary artists today, the importance of her work is increasingly recognised.

Claude Cahun’s photographic self-portraits present a dizzying kaleidoscopic mix of mystery, exuberance, and sobriety. Born in France, Cahun lived mostly on the island of Jersey with long-term love, Marcel Moore. Also known as Lucy Schwob and Suzanne Malherbe, they both adopted their preferred gender-neutral pseudonyms during early adulthood. Moore, although often invisible, was always present – typically taking the photographs and also authoring collages – and in this sense was as much artist collaborator as Cahun’s personal support. Described in Cahun’s own words as a “hunt”, through a combination of text and imagery, Cahun’s exploration of self is relentless and at times unsettling. From circus performer, clothed in layers of artifice, to a stripped-down Buddhist monk grounded by integrity, Cahun is engaged in an ongoing dialogue with multiplicity. Tragically in line with the fragmentary nature of Cahun’s outlook, much of the artist’s work was destroyed following an arrest and subsequent imprisonment for resistance against the Nazis. What remains bares interesting parallel to the title of Cahun’s diaristic publication Aveux Non Avenus, translated as Disavowals, which enigmatically suggests that for all that is revealed and given, much is still hidden or has been lost.

In 1937 Cahun and Moore settled in Jersey. Following the fall of France and the German occupation of Jersey and the other Channel Islands, they became active as resistance workers and propagandists. Fervently against war, the two worked extensively in producing anti-German fliers. Many were snippets from English-to-German translations of BBC reports on the Nazis’ crimes and insolence, which were pasted together to create rhythmic poems and harsh criticism. They created many of these messages under the German pseudonym Der Soldat Ohne Namen, or The Soldier With No Name, to deceive German soldiers that there was a conspiracy among the occupation troops. The couple then dressed up and attended many German military events in Jersey, strategically placing their pamphlets in soldier’s pockets, on their chairs, and in cigarette boxes for soldiers to find. Additionally, they inconspicuously crumpled up and threw their fliers into cars and windows.

Cindy Sherman

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Cindy Sherman is an American photographer and filmmaker whose self-portraits offer critiques of gender and identity. What made Sherman famous is the use of her own body in roles or personas in her work, with her seminal series Untitled Film Stills (1977–1980) being particularly important. These black-and-white photographs feature the artist herself as a model in various costumes and poses, and are her portrayals of female stereotypes found in film, television, and advertising. Similar to Barbara Kruger, Sherman examines and distorts femininity as a social construct. “I like making images that from a distance seem kind of seductive, colourful, luscious and engaging, and then you realize what you’re looking at is something totally opposite,” she reflected. “It seems boring to me to pursue the typical idea of beauty, because that is the easiest and the most obvious way to see the world. It’s more challenging to look at the other side.” Born on January 19, 1954 in Glen Ridge, NJ, the artist abandoned painting for photography while attending the State University of New York at Buffalo, and in 1976, moved to New York to pursue a career as a photographer. In addition to the Untitled Film Stills series, she has continued to explore women as subject matter, often donning elaborate disguises in large-scale colour photographs, throughout her career. Her work has been the subject of many museum exhibitions, including those at The Museum of Modern Art in 2019, and at the National Portrait Gallery, in London in 2019. Sherman lives and works in New York, NY.

Identity = the fact of being who or what a person or thing is.

Your identity can be defined by many different factors of your life, for example the way you dress, your culture, where you live, who you live with etc.

place – the place in which you are photograph can say a lot about your wealth, your lifestyle and your personality. For example if you are photographed in a buzzing city you are most likely to live in these urban areas, it can show that you enjoy the bus of people around you, making you a people person. On the other hand if you are photographed in a place like a farm, or the countryside, it can imply that you enjoy the small things in life. For example someone who lives in these rural areas are more likely to be less materialistic, have less money and enjoy the simpler things in life.

Clothing – clothing can say a lot about a persons wealth and status, and much about their culture. For example if someone is wearing a Berka, it is clear to see that they are muslim, and if someone is wearing a kippa they are likely to be jewish. If someone clothing is extravagant and covered in expensive brands, they are likely to have a lot of money and care much about their image. You can also see which climate someone is living in by their clothing. If their clothing is thin and minimal it is clear to see that they are living in hot conditions, whereas if their clothes are thick ad layered they are more likely to be battling the cold.

facial expression – facial expression and position of the subject can say a lot about how they view themselves. For example somebody who is confident may smirk or grin infrot of a camera, wanting to look their very best. However someone who is less comfortable around the camera, may be more self conscious, and prefer to be photographed when they aren’t posing and least expect it.

This image shows a lot about this women’s identity. The environment that she is standing or working in seems to be pretty rural, and away from ay modern buildings or equipment. This can imply that the women doesn’t have a lot of money, and looks as if she is working hard to bring food and materials back to her family. Her clothing can suggest that the climate she is living in is on the warmer side, and also indicates that she is a victim of poverty due to clothing looking like a big sheet she has wrapped around herself. In this image, the women doesn’t look or seem too happy, personally I think this is because she is exhausted from working in the heat to try and provide for her family or friends.

Claude Cahun

Claude Cahun, born Lucy Schwob, was a French photographer, sculptor, and writer. She is best known for her self-portraits in which she assumes a variety of personas, including dandy, weight lifter, aviator, and doll. In 1937 Cahun and half sister, and lover, originally known Suzanne Malherbe but by her pseudonym, Marcel Moore, settled in jersey. Theirs was a creative partnership, as well as romantic. Cahun is the more renowned of the pair. She used her work to challenge notions of identity and gender with androgynous self-portraits that bring to life an array of characters. In one, she’s a bodybuilder holding barbells and hearts drawn on their cheeks; in another, she’s a lady of the manor swathed in velvet. Her work is a playful clash of the masculine and feminine, but also a critique of the societal norms she spent her life refusing to adhere to.

Three years after their arrival, on June 30, 1940, the Germans invaded, many of jerseys population fled but Cahoon and more decided to stay. Together, the pair created a two-person resistance campaign, with the main focus being what they called their “traps”. Cahun would draft notes addressed to the German troops, which Moore would translate into German, signing them ‘Der Soldat Ohne Namen’ (‘The Soldier Without a Name’).  They would catch the bus into St Helier, disguised as old ladies to deliver the messages, placing them on parked cars and inside cigarette packets. They kept as quiet as they could about their resistance – not even their housekeeper suspected them. After four years of subversive activity, the pair were arrested by the Germans in 1944. Initially, the Nazi authorities couldn’t believe that the women carried it out by themselves, they believed that there must be a man involved. While waiting to be questioned, Cahun and Moore attempted suicide. They both took pills – barbiturates – which put them into a coma. Once they were well enough, they were sentenced to death for undermining the German forces. However before they could be sent to European camps, jersey was liberated. Cahun and moore did not see this as a blessing.

claude chooses to present her non-binary identity through self portraits such as :

in this photo, Claude is presenting there self the way in which they want to be seen by others, not as a female or a male. The idea of seeing two of her, one in front and one in the mirror, shows Claude’s two identities and how she can switch between the two depending on the day. having the image in black and white shows the idea of non-gendered as the colours she is wearing can not persuade her identity. The use of natural light shows that her natural, normal self is what she portrays in her photos, whether that being her dressed as a boy, a girl, or neither.
The photo is set in her house, which has a close, personal link to her and Moore.

Mihaela Ivanova

Mihaela graduated the new Bulgarian university, bachelors program visual arts, photography module in 2011. Mihaela prefers what she calls ‘the slow’ classic black and white photography. She is fascinated of working with analogue medium format cameras and the challenge of the traditional black and white developing. she says ‘my affinity to old times and classic and a good friend advice made me forget my digital camera.

Mihaela’s work fascinates me, her use of black and white takes away the focus on colours and saturation, but more on patterns, textures, facial expressions and smaller details enhanced by black and white. she explores identity much like how I have explored identity in the sense that she sees it as something we don’t know, and how it is altered by others in society.

Her images are typically about identity, and the challenge that modern social patterns take upon said identities, as you can see the photographs are very simplistic, resembling of her style. She wants to get a message across, not just provide a photograph for a viewer to look at and move on, she provides the viewer with something to go away and think about, in this set of images the theme and message could be that the modern social setting makes people believe that they should be looking like the models within magazines and that’s what the rip of the face from what looks like a magazine represents, the perfect person.

This image shows a sense of lost identity through gender stereotype, the person holding up the photo is a women and the person in the photo is a man. This could show that maybe this women wants to be portrayed more like a strong and brave man, or maybe she feels like she is expected to be more like a strong and brave man. The use of black and white, washing out identity through colour, shows that the women in the photograph is at a loss as to who she really is.

My Ideas

my idea is based on the idea that identity is controlled by society, and we are sectioned into numbers and codes, much like DNA coding, barcodes and fingerprints. The way in which our identity is constructed is influenced by those around us, for example if you hang around with people who are violent and live an unhealthy lifestyle, you are more likely to become someone like them. I am going to cerate a series of images that surround the idea of being controlled and categorized by society.

All of my images will be in black and white, with a few accent colours to portray the idea that identity is washed out by society, colours are a massive part of someone’s identity and show a lot about how confident and outgoing a person is, however what I am trying to do is show that freedom of expression is altered by the people we are surrounded by every day, to the point where ones own identity becomes a mystery to them.

plan –

portrait 1= eyes with a hypnotised reflection to show how what you see can influence how you act

portrait 2= a portrait of someone covering their ears and two people trying to pull their arms away from their ears to hear.

portrait 3= a portrait of someone hands being held up with strings much like a puppet

portrait 4= a portrait of someone putting lipstick on the subjects mouth to try and shape their identity

portrait 5= an arm with a barcode on it

portrait 6= a portrait with fingerprint instead of a head.

mood board

Identity is how a person defines and sees themselves and can be a result of several different factors including gender identity, social identity, geographical identity, political identity, loss or lack of identity, and how those around see them.

How important different factors are to identity is up to the individual as well as how and where they were raised.

I am planning on using this project to explore my cultural identity and heritage. I am from a multicultural family with my dad being from the UK and my mum being South African, but her family is originally from India. My racial identity is important to me and I do not often get a chance to properly explore it.

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