You wear it well…
Photographer Ari Versluis and profiler Ellie Uyttenbroek have worked together since the mid-90s. First in Rotterdam, then in other cities across Europe, they invite pedestrians into their studio for posed portraits, which are then displayed in clusters. As Wim van Sinderen, Senior Curator of the Museum of Photography at The Hague observes,
They call their series Exactitudes: a contraction of exact and attitude. By registering their subjects in an identical framework, with similar poses and a strictly observed dress code, Versluis and Uyttenbroek provide an almost scientific, anthropological record of people’s attempts to distinguish themselves from others by assuming a group identity. The apparent contradiction between individuality and uniformity is, however, taken to such extremes in their arresting objective-looking photographic viewpoint and stylistic analysis that the artistic aspect clearly dominates the purely documentary element.
See many more “tribal group portraits” at Exactitudes. [TotH to EWW]
For more trend-spotting fun, readers can visit Bill Cunningham’s weekly photo round-up in the New York Times (a series that began when Versluis and Uyttenbroek were children). And for an extra-special treat, see the documentary Bill Cunningham’s New York.
As we check ourselves in the mirror before going out, we might send witty birthday wishes to Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde; the novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and master of the bon mot was born on this date in 1854.
The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible.
(…more of Wilde’s wisdom at Wikiquote)
