Getting to know someone you haven’t really known before, trying to dig as deep as possible, telling about yourself to your partner and then make connections and analysis to turn the knowledge into a piece artwork – that is what the “Profile Book” project is about.
I took these photos in the class using my own pieces of work. I was always interested in fashion photography, and these are the photos that I took for my photography class. I projected them and asked my partner to stand in front of the light. I took pictures only of his silhouette. In my work, I want to show his relationship with people.
He is a shadow traveling in his memories, trying to figure out what was wrong and what didn’t work or work in his relationships with others.
Fashion is my passion, so I want my project to be related to fashion. I have asked my partner to tell me more about himself and women’s role in his life. That would have helped me with my focus on fashion as the woman figure would replace the model. It could have been anyone – his mother, his sister, his first crush or his girlfriend. He chose to tell me his love stories.
I did a couple of drawings of my partner – fast sketches. I learned his facial features. It helped me to know his personality and to learn about his character. Later it was easier for me to draw his silhouettes on the dummy book.
In my project, I want to tell a story of my partner’s love experience. I want it to be personal and sincere, and at the same time, I want to include my vision and style in it. I want to put viewers into the memories for the full experience. I want to create an installation.
I only included silhouettes of Tiga in the work because I didn’t want to make them personalised. My main idea is to make the viewers feel like they are in the middle of the scenes themselves.
I created a room out of foam board. The photos on the left are just a sketch for the actual project, and I will make it much bigger. All the scenes are underneath. I haven’t thought of the women’s figures yet, but I know what the stories are going to be about. I need to talk to my partner and ask about their personality to create more accurate characters in this story.
Tiga told me about two romantic stories in his life. First one turned out to be very emotional. All started with a friendship. They became close. He liked her for two years, and when he finally got enough courage to talk to her about it, she turned out to like him too. Though everything started very romantically, their relationship came to their final point. Tiga admits that it was his fault and he regrets the way he acted. He did not want to hurt her, but he was not patient enough and was not fully committed to that relationship. At first, I wanted to make the dummy book entirely handmade using acrylic paint. I have bought foam board, and it turned out that acrylic doesn’t work well on it. So I decided to make digital and handmade mixed – more like a collage than a painting. I will convey fashion through the photography
The collages below represent the first love story of my partner I made it fully digital. I measured the foam boards and made the pictures the same size. I printed them as posters and mounted them on top of the boards using spray glue.
They appear in the order that they will appear in the installation. The shadow is touching the dream girl. The dominant color is red because there were love and interest in there. It was starting point of the relationship. He is like in the mirror labyrinth where all he can think about is her. She at the same time shows her attention to him.
On the next scene, the girl turned towards him trying to tell him something, but she feels that he is shutting out. All the dreams are breaking. Broken glass is falling on her, and she is letting it happen, she doesn’t know what to do. The colors are dull and gloomy. Everything represents the lost opportunities and the pain of the girl.
The third scene represents the broke up she is tired she is hurting. He is not listening. She can not handle it anymore. The broken abstract image and bruises represent her inner world. He does not know what to do he can not help it. He is holding his ears because it is easier to shut off than to work on the problem.
The final scene of this love story is about the regret. She is free now. She is happy, but the guilt is still with him. He would have wanted to change something, but it is too late.
The second story is about Tiga’s second relationships. He is still in love with that girl. Now that he had the bad experience he worked on his mistakes, and he is trying to make it better this time. He told me how romantic the story was and I have tried to convey this in my work. Used different layers in photoshop, and the layers effects. Also had to draw some of the shadows myself.
At first, he told me how he fell in love with her. He didn’t pay attention to her and never noticed how beautiful she is, but once he had a dream about her which changed everything. After that dream, he couldn’t stop thinking about her.
This scene is about the time when he was going to tell her about his feelings. He was trying to encourage himself to tell her the important words.
The time when he told her and she replied. The most emotional and realistic scene. It tells the viewer not only about his feelings but also about her feelings. I have tried to convey the overall sense of happiness.
Finally his emotional state right now. They are together, and they are happy, she is in his inner world, and they look up for each other.
To tell the story to the viewer I created an audio. I asked my partner to record the stories on the phone, and then I overlayed those stories over Evanescence “Bring Me to Life” song. I chose this song because my partner’s favorite music genre is rock. I love rock as well this song is one of my favorite, and I think it suits the story quite well.
By the end of this project I had a basic idea of how to use Adobe Audition – it was my first time using it. I also had an experience in mounting photographs on the foam board, and broaden my skills in using Photoshop for working with big files. I did an installation, so I had to think of a way of presenting the work and at the same time making it portable. This project forced me to think of problem-solving a bit which made me more confident. Moreover, this project taught me that I can know a lot about anyone in a short period only through simple communication.
