Sara Pittaway

BA Film and Television Studies and Fine Art

Anonymous

This project is about the ephemeral nature of the human ability to remember other human faces. If it wasn’t for photographs, particularly their easy accessibility on the internet, and the now constant electronic surveillance of our locations and identities, we might find it very difficult to remember the faces of people we don’t see, or pass by regularly. In my photography I have removed the faces, as well as any visible skin, from people whose faces I will hopefully never forget. It would be unlikely that other people, who may just pass them by, would be able to remember how they look. I have removed the identity, visible through facial uniqueness, but hints of personality are still present.
Distortion of Memories

This series of images is about how memories of certain people can be made or changed through photography and through stories of them. I have used photographs from old photo albums, belonging to my family, to see how much I know about certain members of my family from my own experience alone. Those who I don’t remember from my own experience I have faded out in the original photos. The one exception in this series is the work titled ‘Estranged Uncle K’ which is about how differently I remember times with my uncle compared to other members of my family.