My photographic practice focusses on the genre of fine art black & white portraiture and the area of personal identity – who we are, how we want to be seen, how we are perceived by others.
Growing up as a child during the 1940s and 1950s, I saw the Hollywood movies. Like everyone in that post-war time, we were fascinated by the screen idols – handsome white men and beautiful white women. The stills photographers of Hollywood created an illusion of beauty through their perfect images.
Now 70 years later, we live in a completely different world of mass-culture, a global economy and an increasingly materialistic society. My aim with this project has been to re-visit the images of that Hollywood golden era and challenge those stereotypical 1940s images with images and identity that are more representative of today’s diverse and multi-cultural society and in a way that questions identity and presence.
Every one of us can project our self-identity, and how we want people to perceive us through the powerful source of social media. As we continue to mature throughout our lives, we can explore and redefine our identities and manage how we want people to see us, be it true or false, through the power of the photographic image, just as the Hollywood stars did all those years ago.
Mae fy maes ffotograffig yn canolbwyntio ar genre portreadu du a gwyn celfyddyd gain a hunaniaeth bersonol – pwy ydym ni, sut yr hoffem gael ein gweld, a sut y cawn ein hamgyffred gan eraill.
Wrth dyfu’n blentyn yn ystod y 1940au a’r 1950au, gwelais ffilmiau Hollywood. Fel pawb yn y cyfnod hwnnw wedi’r Ail Ryfel Byd, cawsom ein cyfareddu gan eilunod y sgrin – dynion gwyn golygus a menywod gwyn godidog. Crëwyd argraff o harddwch trwy luniau llonydd cain ffotograffwyr Hollywood.
70 mlynedd yn ddiweddarach, rydym yn byw mewn byd cwbl wahanol o ddiwylliannau torfol, economi fyd-eang a chymdeithas fwyfwy materol. Nod y prosiect hwn oedd ailedrych ar ddelweddau oes aur Hollywood a herio’r delweddau ystrydebol hynny gyda delweddau a hunaniaeth sy’n adlewyrchu cymdeithas amrywiol, amlddiwylliannol heddiw, ac mewn ffordd sy’n cwestiynu ein hunaniaeth a phresenoldeb fel pobl.
Mae pob un ohonom yn gallu creu neu gyflwyno ein delwedd ein hunain, a sut hoffem i eraill ein gweld ni trwy ffynhonnell bwerus y cyfryngau cymdeithasol. Wrth inni barhau i brifio ac aeddfedu drwy’n hoes, gallwn archwilio ac ailddiffinio ein hunaniaeth a rheoli sut ydym am i bobl ein gweld, boed wir neu gau, trwy rym y ddelwedd ffotograffig – yn union fel sêr Hollywood amser maith yn ôl.
