Thursday 30 May 2013

Identity





Identity Exhibition (2013)
Zoë Bull 


'relaxed, chilled out and innovative'



Hello!

I'm very excited to have given In my depth of field a fresh face.
After just finishing my second year of university, I have been reflecting over and updating all my online profiles for you to see.

I have been busy working on various projects which I have now handed in for marking; the most exciting of them all is an exhibition. They are always so prestigious, exhibitions when you go to, say The National Portrait Gallery, or those other fancy places, with stunning photography. Really though, an exhibition can be anywhere that has walls. My exhibition group didn't use walls, not that we didn't want too, but we had quite a unique place to hang our pieces: a bandstand.

This bandstand was in Saffron Walden's Jubilee Gardens, just twenty miles south of Cambridge. There were many um's and ah's from the group members but luckily our member most local to the venue, decided on wrapped velcro around the bandstand poles and attaching the canvas' to them.

So, what was our exhibition about? We had to choose a theme, which we decided was identity and the four of us went about our own creative ways, keeping in mind, that we had to stick with the theme and keep it seamless.

I have an absolute fascination with people. What is beneath that underlying surface? Where have they come from? What do they search for in life? And honestly I could listen all day. I am quite fortunate to know a range of characters, from a range of places and a range from ages also. I'm so interested in the psychology of who people are and that is a question I wanted to ask my potential subjects, combining it with photography.

I began in my head with that 'Who am I?' question along with a whiteboard for them to write their 'defining' word down. However it all seemed so limiting. We can't define our every-changing identities with one word; we have so many different facets.

I was after a conversation with my sister who had studied psychology and she told me about 'The 20 Statements Test'. In short the official survey asks the public to fill in a form of twenty statements beginning with 'I am' (e.g. I am tall). The fantastic thing about it is that the subjects can be as open or reserved as they do wish in their answers, and even then it goes down to speak about who they really are. As my board could only fit four statements on it, I got my subjects to write their twenty and choose their significant few. It was very interesting over a range of ages and gender too.

The exhibition was held over a week from 6th-11th May and it was a fantastic opportunity to receive some feedback from the public rather than same after same opinions of the photography lecturers. My top comment was that my work was 'relaxed, chilled out and innovative.'



Identity Exhibition (2013)
Zoë Bull

Identity Exhibition (2013)
Zoë Bull


Identity Exhibition (2013)
Zoë Bull



Exhibition Poster.