Image by Katie Shapiro – Los Angeles, CA – California Institute of the Arts ’07
Makeup by Erin Hennessy
Katie has presented herself, in this series of self-portraits, as a religious woman, old man, battered woman, homeless man, 1940's film star (actress), and gothic teenager. All or most of which I am assuming are roles that are not suitable as actual descriptions of her, although I suppose it is possible that in some ways they could. Seeing as I have not had the pleasure of meeting her, lets assume she becomes a theatrical representation of realistic generations, genders, personalities, and lifestyles by stepping into their familiar stereotypes. Capturing staged versions of herself as such brings up a good point.
The medium of photography itself provides the photographer with full reign over the options they may choose from in which to portray their subject matter, in terms of the state of a subject as it exists in the world, or a notional idea of the subject. So when it comes down to it, their basic options are real life, or staged life.
Aside from the obvious fact that Katie is not both a man and a woman, young and old, or past and present – it is based on her placement within a studio setting, and use of herself as a model of something and/or someone that does not necessarily describe her, that we understand these photographs as staged. Because of this, we think of these portraits as characters. Taking photographs of religious women, old men, battered women, homeless men, actresses, and gothic teenagers as they exist in the world, on the other hand, would be a more realistic or authentic representation of them.
However, by embodying rich stereotypes that we can all comprehend by visual recognition alone, she begins to create a mixture of not just imitation, but also authenticity in her portraits. For me, this authentic quality is caused by my immediate reaction to the images as a spotlight on the enormous role that stereotypes play in society. Exposing our knowledge of how we might recognize an individual by particular details we associate with their demographic tells us just how deeply rooted, and perhaps unavoidable stereotypes can be. Regardless of how aware or unaware we may be of this phenomenon, we are forced to describe the subjects of her photographs using the visual characteristics that distinguish them as a type of people, rather than individual person. Emphasizing the influence of stereotypes provides a sense of authenticity to her images by revealing the state of the idea of stereotypes as they exist in the world. This message is delivered successfully because of Katie’s choice to use one single model (whether she used herself or someone else) throughout the series rather than a different model for each character.
To see more work by Katie Shapiro, check out her website, or her blog!
