VICES & VIRTUES

I wanted to illustrate my conceptual development using my most recent projects as examples. From the gallery trips and visits and research I have explored, my concepts have become stronger and more communicated through my method of delivery and attention to presentation. I’m trying to consider alternative approaches that think a little ‘outside the box’.

Having found surprising statistics regarding an issue I never realised was so prominent, I decided to address it photographically. My response was based on the theme of identity fraud as I  wanted to use the brief to address a current issue that needed to be brought to the British publics attention. To do this I had to find the right balance between both the brief and my theme and I felt I was successful in doing so. The final images I produced were passport photo sized images presenting a distorted photo of an individual. I focused on particular elements that help to define ‘vice’ and ‘virtue’ to influence my response and I decided that the vice component of criminal activities linked well with the virtue component of conformity. The images are intended to communicate the fraudulence of another individual’s identity through the blurred face of the subject. This presents juxtaposition, as distortion would never be associated with passport photos due to the strict requirements. I felt by hiding the models identity through motion blur would be a good way to portray the corruption and theft of someone's identity which links to immoral conduct and criminal activities. Meanwhile I have communicated the idea of conformity through the framing of my images that conforms to the passport requirements I sourced from GOV.UK. The idea of owning a passport is in compliance to laws which is an act of ethical morality as you are conforming with the rules of society.

My decision to crop the photos as passport images has been informed by the ‘Portraits’ series by Thomas Ruff. However, I developed the idea in a different way. My theme is based around Identity Fraud and in industry would be intended to bring an issue to the publics attention. Therefore, I aimed to build a strong, physical concept all round and continue to evidence this through my presentation. I planned to print my images in the same way that a photo booth would print the passport images. This is where my presentation will differ from Ruff’s as he exhibited his images at a deadpan scale as he shot the images on large format which was a suitable format for his concept.

Overall the images portray the idea of the individual of virtue being cheated by the individual of vice. “One way of organising the vices is as the corruption of the virtues” is a quote I felt described my response to the brief most accurately.