500 word critique - my series

Elizabeth Chandler
University Of Salford
BA(HONS) Photography - Level 5
International Markets And Contexts
Critique of the series I have produced

Series title - The Many States Of Self

‘The Many States Of Self’, is a photographic project by Elizabeth Chandler. The series consists of 6 individual images each compromising two portraits. (12 images in total)
The project translates as an exploration into human emotions and their visual signs, attempting to establish the physical taught expressions we learn to associate with feelings and comparing these physical offerings with the vacant expression humans posses when asleep.
The work offers an understanding of how we communicate emotions and perceive others feelings through the exchange of a physical expression and promotes the photographers interest in human behavior whilst stimulating questions regarding our own understanding.
The Many States Of Self is a project which undoubtably encourages us to think about our own expressions and how they are translated and perceived by others.
The work is backed up by various psychological and scientific studies which investigate the relationships between sleep and emotion, each concluding different results. Chandler refers to research which suggests 80% of people claim to dream in colour and utilises findings from a scientific experiment in which sleepers were woken and asked to select colours from a chart. The results being that soft pastel colours were most frequently selected. This knowledge helps justify and understand the thought process behind the overall aethstetic Chandler chose for her series.
The images feel almost dream like, which is appropriate considering half of the images feature the subject asleep. Interestingly, the dreamy appearance is surprisingly fitting and works well on the portraits too. Not only does this cross over of effect help the two images flow together whilst remaining individual images, but it also induces a feeling of memory and reflection from the perspective of the subject.
The sleep portraits were captured using a remote trigger, which Chandler admits required much experimentation.
In both the portraits and sleep photographs the subject appears nude which is interesting and encourages us to consider the relevance. There is much association with colour and emotion, so perhaps clothing would have dominated too much of the frame. When viewing the work, it is possible to feel almost as though we are invading the subjects privacy, although they have been offered to us.
The work is somewhat captivating in the sense that it pauses moments which occur daily in each of our lives, yet rarely become a spectacle.
Witnessing someone asleep is always a slightly surreal experience, this hypnagogic sensation is heightened when we don’t know the subject of who’s private time we have become bystander by viewing the work.
The surreality is another element which reinforces the sleep topic as we look into the photographs.
The facial expressions appear almost isolated within the frame, with other details requiring a significantly longer time to be taken in. The composition of the images is absorbing and brings an element of spontaneity to the work, this is particularly effective considering the portraits are presumably set up and ensures the emotional displays seem authentic.