Perception is a series exploring the impact of the double, the super ego and influence of celebrity on contemporary society. According to Freud, the super ego is the conscience and the last faction of the personality to develop. This driving force works in accordance to the rules of society and also strives for an acceptance. The super ego creates a double when internalizing the wishes the ego cannot meet or suppressing the negative traits that are unacceptable to society. We also produce a double of ourselves in the primitive development of our personalities as an assurance of immortality. Reminders of this duplicate self in mature phases of our lives marks a return of the repressed and produces feelings of unease. It is this sensation of the uncanny that I am interested in exploring in the work.
I started applying these theories to contemporary society and the presence of the ego today. We are bombarded with imagery of celebrities and there are entire occupations devised surrounding the idea of fame. I became interested in people that felt that they physically resembled someone else and believed that they could convey the celebrities double.
To produce a visual response to Freudian theory that exposed contemporary egos, I posted an advert on the Internet and in local newspapers asking for individuals who thought they bore a resemblance to a celebrity, or worked professionally as a lookalike. I proceeded to photograph my subjects in a traditional studio set up. I had no part in posing or directing my subjects, it was important conceptually that they represented themselves representing someone else. I wanted to evoke a sensation of the uncanny and maintain an ethereal quality to the images that is associated with the implication of the double. The photographs are intended for gallery display at a larger than life size and reflective so the spectator catches their own reflection in the piece. My hope is that in doing so, they assess their own image and consider whom they look like. The mirror itself has been a central core to the project from vanity and narcissism to the mirror stage of development where we first recognize the double of ourselves. The work becomes an advert in itself, asking for individuals who think they bare a physical resemblance to someone else to come forward and thereby appealing to the ego of the collective.