TIL: Young Bride by Midlake

I was just introduced to this song by my dear Kim Jaso.

I love it.

Now you can too.

The Faceless

Ah, here it is.

My final project.

For this semester’s photography class (digital), we were allowed to do literally anything we wanted.

What I wanted was to dabble in fashion photography, but with a dearth of a clothing line to shoot, I really did not want to just slap some random “fashion shoot” on the walls.

I decided to cover my models’ heads in fabric and photograph them doing every day things, in a bout of surrealist inclination.

Originally the idea was mostly aesthetic — I hadn’t really thought through the conceptual repercussions of covering the heads of the photographs’ subjects.

Through writing my artist’s statement, however, and from the comments my classmates offered, the project gathered many meanings.

I sort of see it as a decontextualization of the hooded figure. What normally elicits fear (think KKK, the Grim Reaper, lynching victims) has been taken so far out of its normal context that it might possibly escape its negative connotations. Others saw the project as a representation of the lack of identity in consumerism and even in the fashion industry (as far as models are concerned). Some were disturbed by the images, while others were unphased. I myself am so attached to the material that I don’t think I can be affected by it anymore.

I hardly even notice that the models’ heads are covered in fabric anymore, except in my awareness of how the fabric folds and whether it catches the light nicely.

What do you think? Does the absence of identity disturb you? Or does the specific contextualization of the images render the fabric-covered heads ineffectual?

Or maybe it’s all just a silly semi-surreal photo project.

Either way, here it is!

A HUGE thank you to Kim Jaso (http://graceisnotmymiddlename.tumblr.com/), Stuart Winecoff (stuartwinecoffphotography.blogspot.com), Emily Carlson, Amanda Dallas (http://dallassaywhat.tumblr.com/), Jenna Rosenstein (http://lipsticklieslearning.wordpress.com/), Raj Sidhu, Naomi Chasse, Michelle Dawson, Rob Sobotnik, Alex Morales, and Nina Toumanoff my wonderful models, reflector holders, cigarette lighters, and great helps in general. I owe you guys big time.

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