Vera Butter Portfolio | Graduation Project

jas en kaasschaaf is Jan / jacket and cheese-grater is John

Are our belongings a reflection of our character?
This graduation project began with the fascination for stuff. Stuff in the sense of the belongings that we hold on to, that have nostalgic value or that we possess almost subconsciously but leave us incapable of throwing away.

researching, collecting, archiving
While researching this topic I came across marktplaats (a Dutch website similar to eBay) on which people post self-made photographs and descriptions of objects they wish to sell. Intrigued by the amount of character that is reflected in the posts people make, I started to collect photos and descriptions which were particularly fascinating. This resulted in a huge archive of photos and descriptions that reflect my personal taste and fascination for found-photography and -language.

making portaits with people’s stuff
The next step was to create portraits of people with the material that I had collected. I searched for a formula with which I could make endless authentic portraits of fictitious people. This resulted in a photo series that I made in collaboration with Jonna van Hesteren. Each portrait was taken in the same location and contained two photos or a photo and a description. The interaction between the two is what makes the portraits unique. By giving each photo a name-tag the suggestion is given that the photos are authentic portraits.

publication
The whole process of this project is collected in a publication. While flipping through the publication a chronological impression is given of how a fascination grows into a full scale research project and eventually culminates in to an exhibition.

Entrance to exhibtion space (shared with one other person).

Archive wall showing the photos and descriptions collected from www.marktplaats.nl

Detail of the archive wall containing photos and descriptions collected from www.marktplaats.nl.

Wall showing 7 portaits while leaving empty spaces suggesting that there are endless portait possibilities.

Visitor looking at the portaits.

Name-tags suggest that the photos are portaits or real people while the numbers refer to the archive which in turn suggests that the portaits are constructed rather than authentic.