Identity
Who am I? This adventure, once embarked upon, is not the easiest to live. Questioning one's identity constitutes one of the most important challenges in a human's life.
Why is the quest for one's self so complex, so multifarious?
The desire to define oneself is synonymous with the need to differentiate oneself. In addition, one does not separate oneself from one vision without adopting another. The search for one's self is a development that seldom follows a straight path and is not immune to the process of exclusion: to be and not to be. Identity is comparable to a pattern with detailed motifs that reveal themselves through the fine threads of a fabric.
Indeed, things are more complex, since reflections, before leading to answers, often throw up new questions. Identity is as much a matter of personal choice as it is influenced by society. The visible forms conveying it are summarised in codes, signs and symbols. Clothing styles for instance operate as attributes defining the social and personal role of an individual.
Catherine Balet set out to discover adolescence, during which the question of identity is possibly at its most pronounced. The photographer succeeded in creating a portrait that illustrates both the impact of the individual character and the manifestation of the spirit of the time: the subjective and unique image of the individual disappears against the collective memory with its repetitive and global traits.
Text: Annick Meyer
Translation by Claire Weyland
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© CDI 2016