Dodgy layering.

This piece began with the idea of facebook photos. On facebook each person has their 'Profile Picture' this picture represents you throughout facebook, with it showing whenever you leave a comment, like a page or join a group. For most people this is a photograph that they like and people normally will spend some time choosing this image and changing it whenever they prefer another image of themselves. Another feature on facebook is 'tagging' and 'untagging' photographs. Whenever you are tagged in a photo this will then be shown on your profile but you have the ability to untag any photos that you get tagged in. Essentially trying to hide any photos you don't like from your friends. I wanted to highlight both of these images as this is perhaps on of the most common ways that facebook users edit their lives online. To do this I planned to present the profile picture as the main focus, however I then wanted to show the untagged image coming through behind. I wanted this to be subtle and still partly hidden. This was to highlight the fact that even if a photo is untagged it is still online for people to see.

Practically this didn't work out. I started by printing both photographs on to translucent plastic. Whilst doing this I was reminded of Nan Goldin's work that I saw whilst in Berlin. She also used a slightly translucent quality to allow light to shine though, and I remembered how much I loved this technique. I tried to create my own light box (picture still to come). This had potential but the second image was coming through too much and making the overall piece too messy. I thought that perhaps the photos needed to be further away from each other, I tried to do this by hanging the images with the use of paperclips and translucent tread, but the same problem presented itself. I decide that I may need to change my approach and began to hang up the 'untagged' images, the idea was to then hang up the profile pictures in front, making those the main focus. I wasn't happy with the end result, it seems to look much messier than I had hoped. Although I like the idea of these photos being blown up, and hung from the ceiling to the floor, the viewer could then walk and move through these images finding the untagged photos hidden away at the back. Almost like a translation of how you move through peoples photos on facebook, starting with their profile images, going on to their tagged and perhaps ending finding some untagged images on a friends profile.

I would also quite like to go back to the idea of using a light box, trying to figure out a way to hide the second image a little more, however I'm not sure whether this would be a lost cause and if I should actually just move on.


Although the focus is off I quite like how the main image is the 'Profile Picture' yet the one your eye is drawn to is the 'untagged' photo in the background.

Photos blown up, hung ceiling to floor, allowing viewers to walk into.