Identity in portraits

I've been thinking a lot about the idea of a portrait, it's something that drew my attention while I was in university at the University of Westminster.

There is an issue with this idea that a portrait can be a true representation. It is, in fact, always influenced by an outside source, the photographer, the viewer, sometimes it's false because the person is showing who they want to be and not what they really are.

There are so many different facets of self, how can someone be represented in one portrait how can someone represent themselves let alone someone else in one image, the only reason we can look at a photograph and say “yes, that is them” is because we have intimate knowledge of that person. We know them, that one image doesn’t actually show them fully as a person but that one image triggers something in our memory, it brings that person to life and that is what makes it a portrait because it makes that person real to those who knew them, it brings them out.

But that’s going to be different for everyone who views that image depending on their relationship to the person in the portrait, whether it’s a business relationship, whether it’s family or a close friend, someone who knew them through charity work, or a drinking buddy from uni, those dynamics change how the portrait is viewed, the message it gives off. For one it could be someone representing those they help, the homeless and less fortunate, for the other it could be reminiscent of the morning after a wild night out, two conflicting messages all from the same image. The memory that’s brought forward is different so it’s still not the same message being sent across through that image.

There can never be just one message given out from a portrait, it’s different, it’s human nature, we are all made up of too many different things for a true portrait to be done in one. As an answer to my dilemma of how I could represent so many different, and often opposing, sides of myself I created this image while I was studying, it doesn't give a complete idea of me but I think it shows me better than any other portrait has.


I'm sorry if some of the above was a bit rambling, my thoughts seem to jumble together sometimes and the easiest way to work it into something cohesive is to get it all out so I can look at it. I've been examining the idea of self and the idea of portraits for a little while now and will probably continue to do so for the rest of my life.