Katharina Lepik: Sisterness | Portfolio
Sisterness is a photographic inquiry about identity and identification.
Personality is constituted by a series of identifications.
The first and most important persons we identify with are our parents. Later on, in our adolescence, we distance ourselves from them. We begin to cherish our individuality. But at the same time we look for other persons, friends, partners or other adults, to adapt to. We are searching for similarities, starting to assimilate to others by for example wearing similar clothes, or by sharing certain values and behavior.
By taking portraits of myself, together with other people such as family members, friends and people I barely know, I work on a personal approach towards visualizing the process of identification. Similarity is created by very simple means, such as wearing the same clothes and showing a similar expression. I am fascinated by the result of this assimilation, showing two individual persons merged into one virtual character. Sisterness (german: Verschwisterung) is a metaphor for this state.
Likewise, I am interested in the process of becoming like the other as a whole. During the portrait session, familiarity evolves between myself and the models. Conversely, the individuality of each one becomes evident when we face the camera, despite our physical resemblance.
With my portraits I would like to explore this contrast between closeness and distance, between insisting on our individuality and our longing for a symbiosis with someone like us.
Currently, the series consists of eleven portraits. I designed it to be a long-term project, to be followed up within my work process, as I’d like to visualize sisterness in all its complexity.
