The Manifest

This image was inspired by the definition of Manifest which can describe what a thing ( a boat, a person, a vessel ) may hold i.e: the contents of. The portrait reflects on gender identity and the role contemporary photographic portraiture plays in the representation of the 'female' image. Does it capture or construct identity? Her historical costume defines her as hetero-normative, yet closer inspection of her appearance reveals the costs of conformity and convention. Her averted gaze and painted hands mock the grace of her garments which constrict and confine her. She appears ascendant, carried aloft by the clouds as if heavenward. Her feet have all but disappeared-robbed even of locomotion, she is unraveling.