Getting Started

What better place to get started than where I left off last semester? My final digital project was about scars and the individuals who bear them. A fair amount of the work was inspired by Ted Meyer. Below is the artist statement.

Scarring is a natural part of the healing process, as far as the physical realm is concerned; but often times the bearer is left emotionally and psychologically altered. This series arose from a project concerning personal liberation- photographing my own surgical scars, which eventually evolved into encouraging others to do the same, shed the shrouds concealing their secrets, and allow me to photograph their eccentricities. The subjects are pictured in the most straightforward manner, waist up in plain tee shirts in a n expressionless demeanor against a black background. Then I photographed their prominent scars with the same frontal lighting setup, very closely cropped so that none of the background is visible. In this body of work, the scars are still somewhat hidden, as the individuals are not immediately paired with their scars. This element of ambiguity is perpetuated to further emphasize the metaphorical weight held by scars, which are outward representations of the innermost privacies.

I was very pleased with the way the project turned out, but as Shane harped ad nauseum, the final presentation was just an arbitrary stopping point.