Identity can be formed by numerous things such as age, gender, race, nationality, the environment in which are in and the beliefs that we hold etc. We fundamentally categorize ourselves within each of these criteria in order to understand ourselves and our relationship with others with many photographers using different visual tools in order to represent their own ideas of what identity can be.
One such photographer, Martin Usborne, has chosen to do this in the form of portraiture in an unconventional for. Speaking of an experience in his youth when he was left in a car, Usborne said;
"I don't really know when or for how long....the details don't really matter. The point is that I wondered if anyone would come back....It seems trivial now but in a child's mind it is possible to be alone forever" (Martin Usborne, BJP 2010:23)
Peggy © Martin Usborne 2010
Pospero © Martin Usborne 2010
This statement is a very poignant reminder of what the photographer feels formed and influenced his works in the project 'Mute' (Sept. 2010) in which he recreated portraits of animals locked in their owners cars, a very common occurrence which is often overlooked by the undiscerning passer by. The resulting work shows a real understanding of the helplessness of the situation and the isolation of the animals themselves. Although the photographer agrees that his plight was a fleeting he also reflects and questions the experience and how similar the feeling can be for many, forming a sort of therapy to this end by recreating these traumatic states and effectively allowing the viewers to themselves question and reflect; as he aptly points out:
After all, we are all animals.
Article: A Dogs Life (page 23
Author: Diane Smyth
Photographer: Martin Usborne
Journal: British Journal of Photography
November 2010
Images:
www.martinusborne.com
Peggy: http://www.martinusborne.com/photos/w8z9mpo1u.jpg
Prospero : http://www.martinusborne.com/photos/iaoo3pu2o.jpg
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