prints – Amy Elizabeth Photography

Within the brief it stated that our final pieces had to be exhibition ready, which means we had to have full sized prints, framed and we have to know for definite how we wanted them displayed.

Each of my prints is 8×10 in size and they’re each framed in a medium thickness black wooden frame. I originally had 6 images, so it would have been 3 above and 3 below, but because I had to remove George I changed it to be displayed like this:

In a way, it worked out slightly better, as it meant I could have the landscape and portrait images together without worrying about having to pick a final portrait image to fit the display.

I want them displayed at roughly eye level so that you don’t have to strain to see the images. I would like the persons eye line to fall in the centre of all 5 images, so that you could see all 5 images equally. Each image would be spaced 3 inches apart, with the top and bottom row being 3 inches apart too.

The reason I have chosen to display them like this is because I wanted them all as separate prints to reflect the notion that everyone has their own separate identity, but as I mentioned in my idea development, identity only becomes relevant when compared to others. This is why they’re next to each other, but still separated.

I have titled my work Ipseity. I originally planned on calling it identity, but I felt that was too simple and didn’t properly reflect my idea. So I put identity into a thesaurus, and it came up with ipseity. Ipseity is defined as “not exactly identity and not exactly self, but both and also something between the two meanings; it can also mean nature or self-nature.” I thought this definition was a perfect explanation of my work. For my work I would like to have a contact card underneath my prints which is a short explanation of my project/title:

This was the part of my work that I had been really looking forward to, but also the part that I needed to actually create the narrative I’d been aiming for.

I started out by practicing on some 6×4 shots so I could get the technique right for the final images.

Each of the images is being damaged according to the person’s answers about their identity.

Emily’s was damaged with writing as she said she loves writing and books. In addition to this I asked her what her favourite book was and she said “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” by C.S. Lewis. I needed to test out how would be best to write on the image since I wanted it to be destructive, but also neat enough to read. it also had to be positioned over her face since she said she has “a massive nose and forehead.” I tested out different pens to see which one would write on the odd texture and found that the pen used across her face in the middle was the best one as it was bold enough to be seen and wrote easily on the image itself. I was torn between two quotes from the book, but ended up deciding on “If ever they remembered their life in this world it was as one remembers a dream.” Nothing too long, and sums up the book perfectly. On the actual image there will only be one piece of writing because if I add writing anywhere else other than her face, it won’t represent the truth of her answer.

Libby’s was damaged with make up as she said either make up or jewellery represent her identity. I needed to test the best type of make up to use for this one since a lot of it wouldn’t stay imprinted on the image. I used liquid eyeliner across her face, but that dried very quickly because of the matt finish on the photos. I tested mascara across her body and added eye shadow over the top to enhance it and this worked rather well as the eye shadow stuck to the mascara, making it bolder. I also tried out regular eye liner with eye shadow over it, however this was a little too thick for my liking and it looked too neat for what I wanted to achieve so I went with the mascara. The damaged area in Libby’s photograph will be the area over her skin as that’s what she said she disliked.

Sophie’s image has been damaged with food. This one was a lot easier to create because all I had to do was find a food that would stick to the image. I eventually chose chocolate cake because one of her favourite foods is chocolate cake. It stuck to the image well and meant that also I could position it across her face where it needed to be since she doesn’t like having to wear glasses to feel normal.

Suzie’s image was burnt with a lighter since she smokes. This one took a while to do because during the process it was really windy and the image wouldn’t catch fire. Also, we had to burn the back of the image because the ink on the front wouldn’t catch fire. When we burnt the middle, the ink blew up into a bubble then deflated and caught fire. It was a very awesome effect.

Tom’s was by far the most difficult one out of all of them. I had to damage his legs since his dislike was that he can’t dance, and I thought this image was going to be the easiest, but apparently not. Originally, I was attempting to damage it with alcohol, but the substance wasn’t strong enough to actually change the photo in any way. So I tried nail varnish remover since that has alcohol in it, and that did nothing either. I then tried pure acetone, but all that did was ever so slightly discolour it and it wasn’t even visible in some light. So I then poured Jäger on it as it’s a dark alcohol which I thought would work, but once again it only stained it a little. I tired de-icer with alcohol in it and literally nothing happened. I tried scratching the image with bottle tops from beers, but it didn’t give me the effect I wanted. I tried both wine and raspberry Sourz; but nothing. I tried everything except pure ethanol and that’s only because I couldn’t find any. So at this point I had to rethink Tom’s image. I decided to ask him for something different as it wasn’t working and after a while of thinking he said “I hate cleaning.” That’s when I had the perfect idea to use bleach. I knew bleach would work instantly so I tested it and it worked like a charm.

Overall, despite the issues I had with Tom’s, I’d say what I’ve created are some really good ideas. Now all that’s left is to damage the big ones and I should have my final pieces.