Deirdre A. Power
b. 1963, Ireland
These portraits were taken in and around the small area of Limerick where I live. I did not intend to record my immediate neighbourhood, but every time I stepped outside I happened upon a photographic opportunity. The resultant photograph asks us to decide what we are willing to assume, on the basis of outward appearance, about the person walking past us on the street. What separates presentation from representation, real or record from fantasy? I construct photographs that forefront this ambiguity in order to question received notions about identity, to determine if there is something in the unconscious that reinforces our assumptions and prejudices vis-à-vis the ‘other’. If my photographs force us to question our own identity, then I believe they succeed in their intent.
(Text: give(a)way catalogue, 2006)
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