10 / 18

Fingerprint

Self-Initiated / Image

The project_

What makes a portrait more than a likeness?

The brief_

A personal experiment in portraiture. I was thinking about what makes an image specific to a person beyond a recognisable face.

The observation_

I photographed the sitter without adornment and took an inked index fingerprint. I then made the portrait from that fingerprint. Her own mark became the material of her image.

The application_

Two red boxes added the sitter’s date of birth and a second print, made with her own blood. The image brought together likeness, fingerprint and a physical signature. Three references to the same person.

Detail of the fingerprint portrait and its red information panels. — The sitter’s own mark forms the image.

Credits / Recognition

Self-initiated concept / Image-making — Paul Gray, Suisse.