Character Recognition

Inspired by Myra Greene’s exploration of race, history, and visual perception, this series isolates and reframes the features we’re taught to read — lips, skin, jewellery, hair, texture, posture — not as identifiers, but as symbols, fragments, and questions. Character Recognition is a study in partial visibility. By photographing close-up details of the face and body — cropped, disjointed, and intensely lit — I question how identity is constructed, consumed, and distorted. These portraits withhold more than they reveal. They ask: how are we recognised? Who defines what is visible, readable, or worthy of attention? Set against the legacy of photographic portraiture and its role in racial categorisation, this work turns the gaze inside out. It’s not about being seen in full — it’s about reclaiming the power to decide what’s shown, and why.