This piece expresses the identity of a fellow photo student whom I have gotten to know over the years in photo. The reason I chose her for this piece was due to the unique physical quality she possesses, her long hair. People tend remember her for this. The concept of being recognized for a single feature intrigued me; people are so complex, however, people tend to identify a person by a specific quality about them, whether good or bad; I see this all the time throughout my school. Whatever it may be, almost everyone has one, but why? Why are people identified by such small characteristics when they have so much more to be identified for? I came to the conclusion that people do this because it is easier for them, not necessarily to spite another individual. Although not necessarily intended to hurt people, it still may. Using Dasuni for my subject excited me because not only does she have a unique quality that I can capture, but she has experienced people knowing her as the girl with the long hair which makes this picture much more meaningful for both her and me.

     Rather than showing Dasuni as how people perceive her, I wanted to showcase how Dasuni would like to be seen. The projection of her face is to represent her personality, her intelligence, and everything else she represents since her face is so close to her brain and the brain is responsible for her being who she is I wanted to have a visual of this, but not an actual brain. This is covering her body and her hair because she wants to be known for the person she is on the inside rather than her hair. The projection of her face covers but does not mask her hair because although she wants to be known for more than her hair, her hair is a part of her and she is proud to show her uniqueness and culture that comes along with it, she just wants to be known for more.

     I was inspired for this photo by Stacey Williams’s work with projection. I originally planned to have a picture of her hair projected onto her body, however, this did not look good at all so I immediately began to panic as I was so excited for this photo to turn out, however, I am ecstatic with how the final turned out.