In portrait photographs there are masks and mirrors. Facial expressions present a constant challenge for those seeking symbols. Here the camera is clearly perceived as a multi-faceted mirror. With this selection of portraits of expressive realism, the photographer fulfils one of the oldest dogmas of photography: nothing is as peculiar as clearly described objects.
The series is like an exercise in style, the photographer interpreting a face within a narrow and well-defined framework. The result: completely different moods and feelings radiate from this face. Not only is the temperament of the model interpreted by a photographic temperament, but the model also has the opportunity to show some of the – perhaps continuous – flowing sides of the self. When is this self secure?
The series shows people as models, perhaps as caricatures or merely objects presented to the curious gaze of the spectator. The photographs are demanding trough their mere presence, alluring in their beauty and stylish simplicity showing traces of a life lived to the full. The tension between the temperaments reminds us of the continuous play between deceit and exposure in portraiture. The mask and the mirror are reflected.
- Tove Thage
”… your dead eyes, your eyes that are not even like a mirror, it is neither the mirror of your soul nor mine, I look into your eyes, and I do not see my reflection… could she bring tears to those eyes… just one quivering sign of life… and this she had given her life to, to make these eyes come alive.”