"In games where we expect to play an avatar, we end up being ourselves in the most revealing ways; on social networking sites such as Facebook, we think we will be presenting ourselves, but our profile ends up as somebody else- often the fantasy of who we want to be. Distinctions blur."- Sherry Turkle, "Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other"
“In the course of a life, we never “graduate” from working on an identity; we simply rework it with the materials at hand. From the start, online worlds provided new materials . Online, the plain represented themselves as glamorous, the old as young, the young as older. Those of modest means wore elaborate virtual jewelry. In virtual space, the crippled walked without crutches, and the shy improved their chances as seducers……You begin by naming and building an avatar. You work from a menu with a vast array of choices for its looks and clothes. If these are not sufficient, you can design a customized avatar from scratch. Now, pleased with your looks, you have the potential……to live a life that will enable you to “love your life”.
Sherry Turkle from “Alone Together: Why we Expect More From Technology and Less from Each Other”
It is clear from my interactions with my subjects that they are investigating and exploring their identities. For both young and old, it’s an ongoing process, changing as their lives and circumstances change. I help them create “avatars”, versions of their selves that are them at their best, their most beautiful and alluring. However, unlike an online animation, these avatars actually look like them, are in fact them, in a heightened and more idealized form, but clearly showing them as they truly are. In this way, it is a more powerful depiction of their selves as they wish to be.
For many years, I was a sculptor, installation and performance artist. About 10 years ago, inspired by a book of nude photographs from the 1800s(Taschen's "Early Erotic Photography"), I began creating elaborate vignettes in my studio and photographing models in them. At first, my only ambition was to create a beautiful image. Soon, however, as more and more women started approaching me wanting to pose, I began to focus more on my subjects, their interaction with the camera, their desire to expose themselves and play a role. Many of these women are struggling with issues of identity, attractiveness, sexuality, beauty and desirability. So many of them have expressed to me how powerfully it affected them to pose for me, how liberating and empowering it was.
I've always collected old photographs and postcards. I've also always been interested in formal portraiture and different notions of beauty. I enjoy taking ordinary people and showing them at their best, their most beautiful. I love giving them access to a style of photography generally accessible only to celebrities, startlets, the very wealthy. My background in sculpture, sets and costuming clearly come into play and I often design and make all the costumes, jewelry, and props myself. My subjects relish the opportunity to try on different outfits, fabulous jewels, play with different roles. They enjoy being the focus of attention, shown as paragons of beauty.
These latest images are inspired by hand colored postcards from the late 1800s and early 1900s. Besides continuing to create these images as art and explore the many issues that they raise, I hope to promote myself as a portrait photographer, offering this type of portrait photography to everyone.
