Throughout history, portraiture has been used to document individuals while conveying ideals of power, importance, permanence, and status. This was achieved by commodifying some sort of physical likeness of an individual [their image] through a portrait that fixed them in time as a representation of that ideal.
Today, we have unprecedented control over how we portray ourselves, leaving several images for long after we are gone, our bodies have decayed or our appearance changed. This raises several questions: What does this practice reveal about our self-perception, self-importance and mortal condition? How does an image-driven culture shape the way we relate to one another? What does it mean to sell our own image?
Topographies is a project that examines this through the graphic dissection and portrayal of individuals both through images and real life observation.
Motivated by a growing interest in the anatomy and behaviour of facial features [a defining marker of individual identity, yet largely outside personal control] and how, as the author of an image we interpret/register them.
