Valentines | Self-Love | Friendships

My final year project focuses on the identity and representation of all individuals no matter their background, shape or size. I want to capture authentic emotions and movements of all project participants. Additionally, I am interviewing shoot participants about what identity means to them how they might express that through various outlets such as; styling, tattoos, makeup, self-care, dance etc... This shoot focuses on the relationship you have with yourself and being your own Valentine. Not everyone has a partner, but we do have friendships that embody love. I was inspired by Rose Finn-Kelcey’s, ‘Divided Self’ photograph where her concept highlights a persons private self vs the one they present to the world. With social media today, I believe that people use their online presence to mask their real offline identity, leading viewers to create judgement and compare their lives to unrealistic ideals of who they should be. As this project is a WIP, I am in the process of creating a final video with participant responses overlaying the BTS. Here, you will gain small insight into who these people are and how they feel about their identities, leaving viewers with a refreshed perspective and hopefully, less judgement towards people they see day-to-day.