Identities

In the late ’70s, some Swiss cantons decided to use for their whole administrations the official social security (AVS) number, which every person of age was allocated when they started working. The procedure was, theoretically, to be accompanied by restrictions on the use of this information.

The work “Identities” was inspired by this will to codify the citizen and gather information about him outside a human context. In opposition to this will of the government, I took pictures of friends who were close enough for me to be able to reveal their personality through these images. They were all photographed in their environment, the setting being unchanged. If the faces have been deliberately obliterated, the streaks of light are intended to emphasize a character trait of the person photographed. Each image is full of symbols and its interpretation should lead the spectator to discover the personality of the model even better than the facial features would have done. The women who have never worked bear their husbands’ numbers.

December 1977
N.B. Currently, each person is given an official number from the age of 18.

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