Portraits of a Theater Ensemble
Artists and their creative processes have always been a fascination to me—perhaps in an attempt to better understand my own creative impulses. In my portraiture I often explore my subjects in an exaggerated and fantastical way, incorporating elements of their personality and artwork into the photo; theater in particular lends itself to this sort of exploration. While actors are typically fulfilling roles created by others, I believe it’s impossible for them to not bring their own stories and identities to the characters they play.
The way members of the Walkabout Theater Ensemble have crafted a unique and arresting artistic collaboration, built around challenging existing theatrical form and structure through individual contribution, is like nothing I’ve seen before. After getting to know the ensemble on an individual level I became interested in their identities as artists and their personal relationship with theater.
As I believe a good portrait is a meeting point between the photographer and subject, I strived to have the project be a collaborative effort. With that in mind I tried to learn as much as I could by interviewing the members, learning their stories, and using my own personal experiences and relationship to them to create a portrait that I feel captures a true aspect of their artistic selves.
