With these portraits, I am interested in uncovering a facade of identity. It is fascinating to consider the intricate variety of traits that we as individuals choose, or unconsciously adopt, in creating the persona that appears to be our “identity.”
Living in Los Angeles, this constructed presentation of our selves seems especially pronounced. Often, it appears that the layers we accumulate and adopt in creating a public identity interfere with what we’re actually feeling and who we actually are.
Several years ago, when I met one of the models that I ended up photographing (and who inadvertently inspired this project), I began wondering why an attractive, healthy model in this famously glamorous and trendy city would choose to rid herself of the individual trademark of hair that seems to play such a central role in how we are defined. She explained that she wanted to overcome the stereotype of how most of us express -what she believed to be- a very conventional and predictable definition of beauty, and opt instead for something more striking where the expression of her face and the look in her eyes would be clearly seen. I found her decision compelling, vulnerable and yet quite bold - she was exposed, and in that exposure there was something very distinct and real beneath her gaze. I was struck by the extreme choice she had made in presenting herself to the world. There was nothing for her to hide behind with her shaved head; even clothed, she looked naked.
When shooting these women, I tried to capture something universal -yet elusive- that ordinarily escapes a lot of popular portraiture. I avoided any artifice and pose, and observed that by discarding traditional expectations of femininity, my subjects conveyed a powerful, distilled authenticity. A certain reductive truth emerged from the shadows. My camera was part x-ray, part stethoscope, and I glimpsed a sublime moment in the lives of these individual souls.
Exhibited:
2013 June - Month of Photography, Bulgaria, Sofia
2012 April - Slideluck Potshow, London, UK
2012 March-April FotoFreo 2012 - Form Gallery, Perth, AUSTRALIA
2011 First Prize - portfolio - Worldwide Photography Gala Awards, Annual Pollux Award, York, UK
2011 Honorable Mention National Competition, Soho Photo, New York, NY
2011 July-August Soho Photo, New York, NY
2011 May-June Center Forward, Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO
2010 July-September (Por)trait Revealed, RayKo Photo Center, San Francisco, CA
2010 April-May Another Nude Show, Robert Berman Gallery, Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, CA
2010 Honorable Mention - portfolio - IPA - International Photography Awards
Featured:
http://www.lalettredelaphotographie.com/entries/andrew-george-unfiltered
http://www.oitzarisme.ro/index.php/2011/06/06/andrew-george-unfiltered/
http://www.marcosignorini.it/photoblog/autori/andrew-george/
http://www.soanyway.org.uk/andrewgeorge.htm
http://wecanshoottoo.blogspot.com/2011/10/feature-andrew-george.html
http://actualcolorsmayvary.com/2012/02/andrew-george-unfiltered/#more-3950
http://www.slideluckpotshow.com/galleries/100-photographers/3609-george-london-iv
http://bnt.bg/bg/productions/121/edition/33115/denjat_zapochva_s_kultura_5_uli_2013