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Portraits of Relation
Caitlin ManlyPortraits of Relation explores the genetic connection, identity and visual representation through a series of studio portraits that has been
inspired by multiple photographers, most notably, Thomas Ruff in particular his restrained style. Fascinated by DNA and genetics, Caitlin uses portraiture to make a subtle nod to the often-invisible threads of ancestry that tend to go unnoticed. Each individual is photographed with the same formality and distance under controlled studio conditions, by removing expressive cues it leaves the portraits of the captured subject to draw attention to the symmetry and surface details that are shared between relatives that can be overlooked in everyday life.
The portraits operate as a visual catalogue of the inherited features that are presented without a narrative embellishment. Yet within this neutrality lies a deeper invitation to consider how we read faces and recognise likeness and understand how identity is shaped by what is passed down long before personality, environment and culture have its influence on life.
As this project develops and expands, Caitlin plans to include a wider range of genetically connected individuals, families, siblings and extended relatives which forms a broader archive of human inheritance. By placing all subjects within the same visual parameters in the same studio environment, this series highlights the distinctions and quiet connections that define familial relationships. Ultimately, Portraits of Relation seeks to reveal the subtle threads that bind people to one another.
The portraits operate as a visual catalogue of the inherited features that are presented without a narrative embellishment. Yet within this neutrality lies a deeper invitation to consider how we read faces and recognise likeness and understand how identity is shaped by what is passed down long before personality, environment and culture have its influence on life.
As this project develops and expands, Caitlin plans to include a wider range of genetically connected individuals, families, siblings and extended relatives which forms a broader archive of human inheritance. By placing all subjects within the same visual parameters in the same studio environment, this series highlights the distinctions and quiet connections that define familial relationships. Ultimately, Portraits of Relation seeks to reveal the subtle threads that bind people to one another.