To choose clothes, either in store or at home, is to define and describe ourselves.
Nowadays society is pressing on us not to judge other people by their appearance but our instinct dictates us otherwise. We are seeking for similar dress codes to fit in to certain social groups. This proves that we judge people on first impression. We use clothes as a tool to express our self, feelings, moods, social status, characters. Since we are young we are making these choices consciously some of us unconsciously, but the older we get, it becomes more of a choice and statement.
When I take the clothes off the people and photograph only the clothes instead of people, the clothes start taking a life of their own. Despite the absence of the model the photos are imbued with human presence.
My project took the form of portraits of clothes (in a literal sense but). I realised that the portraits were also still life. This interesting contradiction gives a new reading of my project. Clothes are by definition objects and as such are devoid of life (out of life). Despite this absence what is interesting is that they are not completely lifeless, there seems to be something that we read as being alive. In my photos the body of the model is somehow re-enacted by his clothes. In other words his clothes transcend his “being” (Transcend = to live outside of). There are still-life’s but also objects, which I give new meaning by taking the people out of them and creating environment around them.