De-Identity

Photographic Series

This series started as an emulation of an existing photographer; I chose Ralph Eugene Meatyard. I had just completed my identity series and I was interested in Meatyard’s work because he uses masks to cover up the identity of his subjects. I was also interested in his ability to not only mask his subjects, but also do it

in an everyday kind of setting. I chose to carry that into my series, which is also about the everyday ordinary surroundings, as well as an inability to identify the people within the space. Through researching Meatyard, I discovered he had a series called Masks and Dolls, but I wasn’t very interested in photographing dolls–I am more interested in surrealism, so I played off the two and came up with De-Identity: Masks and Dali. It played off Meatyard’s work, as well as surrealism and Salvador Dali. I then carried my camera and a set of masks around with me wherever I went, to keep the authentic everyday surrounds in my images. I had people put the mask on when I photographed them, so that my subjects were people that filled my everyday surroundings but that were unidentifiable.