Friday, December 18, 2009

COMMON APPLICATION ARTS SUPPLEMENT Photography by Emma Coleman: Personae

 

Personae: At A Glance

 

            Before even picking up my camera this time around I spent a few days breaking down the term persona.  “What is a persona?” I asked myself, “What is my persona?”  Hard as I tried I couldn’t seem to pin myself down to just one, perfectly descriptive character.  It finally occurred to me that the role I play differs depending on whose perspective is taken.  We are all of us defined by memories, each of us a construct of a web of suggested identities.  This initial conclusion satisfied me, but I wanted to take it a step further.  In what context could I neutralize the evaluation of a person’s identity?  Where could I capture the personae of strangers? 

            My solution was a trip to Cleveland Hopkins.  At the airport we brush past people, exchange brief glances and rarely pause to wonder about them.  All we know about these strangers is what we can see. They are stripped of a history, ungrounded… fleeting mysteries. 












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