Faces of Power
What does power look like up close?
RESEARCH_
This work extended the South China Sea conflict piece, shifting focus from geopolitics to the human actors behind it. I was interested in what it means to hold power — and what gets hidden behind a public face.
IDEATION_
I took close-up portraits and conducted interviews asking discomforting, personal questions — the kind powerful people are rarely asked publicly. I explored masks (literal and metaphorical) as a recurring motif, inspired by Brian Cattle.
KEY DECISIONS_
Chose to layer multiple identities into single images using acetate and a custom-built A4 lightbox, referencing the phrase 'together we are one.' Gelli printing added a propaganda aesthetic through paint transfer. Photograms stripped context entirely, leaving figures open to interpretation.
SOLUTION_
A multi-part installation combining Mod Roc masks, acetate lightbox prints, gelli prints, and photograms — each exploring a different facet of how power is constructed, projected, and concealed.
REFLECTION_
The most powerful moment was realising that removing colour and context (the photograms) made the images feel more universal — anyone could be in power. I'd push the interview component further in a future iteration, potentially making it part of the installation itself.