First Photograph

“To photograph people is to violate them, by seeing them as they never see themselves, by having knowledge of them that they can never have; it turns people into objects that can be symbolically possessed.” (S. Sontag)

I photograph people, who don't have any photos (unless passport or ID). Then we (together with my partner Lucas Cwierz) print those photographs and give those people as a present. In doing so we not only symbolically possess them, but also return them to themselves, so that they can see themselves as they never saw and get knowledge of themselves that they never had.

For most of us, the idea of not having a photograph of yourself is a foreign concept. We document and share our lives constantly, uploading millions of photos to social networks everyday. Every house has at least one photo framed and hanged in the living room. But there are still people, who have no photographs because of different circumstances. And that opens a door to other dimensions of the story, where poverty, technology, body image and other issues can be discussed.

Video teaser: www.vimeo.com/159780340