Aziz + Cucher digitally remove all facial features, leaving their subjects imprisoned in a suffocating envelope of flesh. How would you maintain your identity if everyone looked like this?

Aziz + Cucher “Rick from the series DYSTOPIA”, 1994 © Aziz + Cucher 1994/2004

A display of 100 variations of passport ID photographs of the artist herself in 100 different disguises. Each variation consists of four images. Some of them are hardly recognisable as being the same person. Which one is the artist’s real identity?

Tomoko Sawada “ID 400”, 1998 © Tomoko Sawada

Alongside these digitally enhanced images, in one corner of the exhibition space, some straightforward portrait photographs were being displayed. Philippe Bazin’s photographs of newborn babies and Rudolf Schaefer’s silver toned prints of the dead both make a very strong impact on the viewer. These succeed in making a strong impact on the viewer, probing deep into the subject matter’s inner character. It remains to be seen how this level of intensity can be expressed in the digital computerised graphics using 21st century technology.

About Face: Photography and the Death of the Portrait
Open: June 24th – September 5th, 2004
Place: Hayward Gallery
Address: South Bank Centre, London SE1 8XX
Tel: +44 (0)87 0380 0400
https://www.hayward.org.uk