The photographs of Dita Pepe.
You can be who you want to be, and that can be determined by who your mate is. It's intriguing to imagine all the possible yous, based on all the possible others.
Is it narcissistic or the opposite of narcissistic: self-effacing? Who would you be if you were somewhere else, with somebody else? Maybe nothing at all like the you you are now. Could you slip inside someone else's milieu and fit in, become redefined by that other person, redefined and comfortable and natural?
If you found out that, at heart, the real you was a chameleon, would you seek out, in sequence, distinctly different partners in their natural environments, to fulfill your potential?
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34 comments:
narcissistic
Unconvincing. She's trying too hard. She becomes an element of self-parody. Like a Prius in Olympia.
I started looking at these photos with the attitude that I would dislike her and her project, but I was won over. I think these pictures are terrific. I looked at them a second time with Meade, and we enjoyed them together and talked a lot about them.
I hope commenters here are actually experiencing the pictures and not knee-jerking.
The backgrounds are what is interesting, she sort of fades into them. The bland blond on the scene you have to look for. A where's Waldo with only a few people in the scene.
There's a lot of novelistic detail in the background. These are people who are leading complicated, messy lives. She should put in a photo of herself with her current paramour and let the viewer guess which is the authentic relationship.
Yes, this reveals that being a helpmate to a man that needs you is a woman's natural role. The next step is planning how to get the man who is worthy of you. Keeping him is the easy part.
It's a neat project. Love the square format. I don't much care for posed shots, but I'll get some ideas from this collection for how to make mine not suck.
The guy in the cyan banana hammock was disturbing.
The t-shirt with the "Sex, Drugs and Sausage Rolls" logo. What a dweeb.
Other than that, Grant Wood's legacy is safe.
"a strategic visual content creator?"
Is that like photographer ?
Just heard an old friend died at age 92 today. He influenced many peoples lives around here. Truett Cathy.
It's a big risk, spending too much time looking at the Mirror of Erised.
Truett Cathy.
...of Chick-Fil-A?
Reminds me of Cindy Sherman. Because of her looks she blends into the more ethnic scenes, stands out more in the 'creative class' ones.
The pic with the old dude in the proletarian housing blocks was a hoot. Reminds of 70s-vintage CCCP.
Thanks, Prof., this was fun.
The one with the shark on the wall: Who would choose that paint hue?
I felt like I was looking at Embarrassing Family Photos.
Yup. Terrific. And fascinating, actually.
Makes concrete just how random one's birth is, and then the subsequent life choices - each one closing off all possible others.
What a piece of work is Man.
She's freaking me out!
I like them. A lot of people would have made it narcissistic by trying to make themselves look especially attractive in every setting. She has obviously put a lot of effort into making herself look like a real part of the world she is photographing.
As for this:
Who would you be if you were somewhere else, with somebody else? Maybe nothing at all like the you you are now.
I imagine I would be more like I was before I met my husband, which is to say, more of a jerk.
"I started looking at these photos with the attitude that I would dislike her ... but I was won over. I think these pictures are terrific."
My thoughts exactly. It's a fun idea and she pulls it off. I really enjoyed it.
Interesting photos, obvious visual talent.
I also think you could view this in the context of a photographer reducing people to their caricature and then joining in on the visual stereotype.
Would be interested how she would portray herself with a Chicano gang-banger, or a young black guy in the Chicago ghettos. Could she do that without then being seen as offensive, no matter the consideration she put into it?
Would she 'stand' on her knees with 'little people'?
I find it neither.
I found it imaginative and thought provoking. Yes, I share the same mind games of what if's.
The images draw you in. You want to imagine the daily lifestyle and assorted stories of the very different lives.
I loved it, too. Not everyone could've pulled this off, but it looks like she took it seriously but still had a lot if fun with it. I loved the way she incorporated her daughter (those glasses!) in some, and her pictures with other women as her partner as well.
Would be interesting to see her set up the picture for herself and Ray Rice.
It doesn't solve world hunger, so who cares?
Speaking of on her knees...how about head shaved in an orange jumpsuit with an ISIS executioner reading his Obamaprompter?
Interesting idea and some of them were good but several went off the deep end (the apple farmer in red overalls...really??)
And what was with the kids in weird eyeglasses?
I liked it OK, but it reminded me of 'Material World' and it didn't come off well in the comparison:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/worldbalance/material.html
She managed to turn her subjects into supporting players for her own 'Where's Waldo' starring role. Yes, she dresses to blend in, but the effect of the series is to make her the star and all the other people are just stage dressing (sort of like a lot of brides at their weddings).
One picture had a panther in the background.
So that is good.
Very interesting. I saw this in the morning at work and didn't have time to comment. I'm with a lot of others in that I read the short description and expected to dislike it, yet found it very inviting. Love the composition and level of detail. The act of putting herself into the pictures invites you to do the same (more than you usually do.) It's much more unifying than, "Here are a bunch of couples of very different backgrounds." It's "a few flaps of a butterfly's wing and this could have been me." It's neither self effacing or narcissistic. It's a contemplation on the interaction of the self in different relationships.
It's great that the most "transgressive" element is having 30 hetero couples.
And the kids in the weird eyeglasses are wonderful!
I loved these pictures. They're humorous. Good find.
Nice. A lot of work and thought went into that.
Not anything I'd pay money or go out of my way to see, but the talent and dedication that went into the project are worthy of note.
The most "normal" one was the interracial one.
I liked them. Interesting to see the transformations.
Not a single same-sex shot. Such a hater!
Yeah, great pictures. And it's interesting to see how many commenters can instantly sort of start 30 novels based on 30 picture done by this photographer. (Many people's pictures suggest nothing except that the subject really wanted to get this picture session over with)
It's art. Once upon a time, she wondered to herself, what would it be like to be married to that guy. Then, she used a medium that helped her to realize that vision. Good stuff.
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