Perspicere: The Invention of Self

Focus of the project is a young man in Lisbon. Tony, the young man is of creole origin and has emigrated to Portugal from the former african-portuguese colony Guinea Bissau and former french Guinea Conakry. The large format photographic prints of the protagonist resemble a polaroid format in oversized scale. The digital photographic material has been designed in reference to a polaroid and appears as an almost nostalgic quote of the quick picture – in times , when the speed of images has become omnipresent. The photographs have all been taken in the Tony‘s private bedroom. By means of switching of his clothings and his behavioural roles, different facets of his personality are shown. The viewer might discover himself literally trying to get a picture of that person, whos identity could supposedly stand for “the African in Europe”. Both the variation of images as well as the installation of the photographs withdraw from the idea of a fixed image. The exhibition appears almost uncompleted; some of the photographs are ‚still‘ leaning against the wall or lying on the floor. The film consists mostly of extreme close ups of the protagonist. The camera slowly moves in a kind of macro way over photographs of his body and his immediate surrounding, while his face is mostly left out. In an almost cartographic manner, skin, clothing and surfaces are being examined on their role as codes that construct meaning and identity.