portrait identity

IdentityPortrait Photography Project

Nikki S. Lee, Projects (1997-2001)

Me’ and ‘them’: the in-between where ‘my identity’ tends to change organically. - Nikki S. Lee

The importance of identityWho am I?

I am…

I am…

I am…

I am…I am…

Multiple Multiple IdentitiesIdentities

I am…

Nikki S. Lee — Parts, the men are missing.

Lee leans on a man, then cuts him out of the picture.

Painters have explored self portrait throughout the history of art. 

Self portrait- Vincent VanGough Self portrait – Frida Kahlo

Definition of Identity: “the reflective self-conception or self-image that we each derive from our family, gender, cultural, ethnic, and individual socialization process” (Ting-Toomey).

Nikki S. Lee — Projects: The Seniors Project

For this transformation, Lee needed a makeup artist.

Three levels of identity:

I. Personal (what makes us unique)

II. Relational (our relationships with others)

III. Cultural, Communal or Social (large-scale communities such as nationality, ethnicity, gender, religious or political affiliation)

Photography by Catherine Opie

Selected Social Identities

Racial Identity – a socially constructed idea that still persists in the United States

Ethnic Identity – derived from a sense of shared heritage, history, traditions, values, area of origin, and sometimes language

Gender Identity (different than sexual identity) – how a particular culture differentiates masculine and feminine social roles

National Identity – the nation/country one was born into ( or a sense of place)

Ethnic Identity: The Hapa Project, Kip Fulbeck

• Fulbeck began the project in 2001, traveling the country photographing over 1200 volunteer subjects who self-identified as Hapa (defined for the project as mixed ethnic heritage with partial roots in Asian and/or Pacific Islander ancestry)

The dark side of identity

Stereotypes- categorization that mentally organizes your experience with, and guides your behavior toward, a particular group of people.

Prejudices – are deeply held negative feelings associates with a particular group (anger, fear, aversion, anxiety).

Racism – an extension of stereotyping and prejudice. The belief that one race is inherently superior to another; “genetic endowment.”

Ethnocentrism – one’s own culture is superior to any other.

Stereotypes - Gender

Cindy Sherman plays the role of a young woman studying her own reflection. The photo visually portrays a woman assembling her identity, caught in the act of construction…she appears masked through make-up and costume.

Untitled Film Still #14. 1978.

Cindy Sherman. Untitled Film Still #43. 1979.

Cindy Sherman. Untitled Film Still #48. 1979.

Cindy Sherman, Continued…

• Clearly displaying the exaggerated manipulation of her body, she describes her face as a blank canvas to be worked on so as to create and unmask the social stereotypes circulated by the media, often revealing their decay and almost horrifying aspects in features verging on the grotesque.

Remember…emotions can be conveyed.

Dorothea Lange. (American, 1895-1965). Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California. 1936

Photo by Tom Hoops

Let’s look at someone familiar!

• What makes President Barack Obama who he is on the inside and the outside?

Identity- President Obama

• bi-racial, Hawaii, Kenya, Indonesia

• His love of basketball

• His hometown of Chicago

• Politician

• Lawyer

• Father, husband

• Harvard graduate

• President

1. “Who am I on the inside? 2. Who am I on the outside?”3. What do I value?

Identity?

• Then….how will you represent this through a photograph?

1. Clothing, Props?2. Environment?3. People/models?

Student Examples

• Identity Portrayed through Photography

Incorporate Text?

Think outside the box!

Try something new?!

Can be about you, but not feature you

For Friday, Oct. 26th

• 1. Brainstorm 5 ideas for this project.

• List ways you will “represent” yourself.

• Think about the location, people, clothing, backgrounds, etc.

• How will your photo be unique?

• A new perspective?

• 6 photos due on Tuesday, Oct. 30th

• Final Photo due Thurs., Nov. 1st