A Statistically Derived Portrait
Both statistics and photographs are the embodiment of abstract specification. Statistics traditionally act as an objective truth, providing all denotation without any connotation. Photographs are often in a way the inverse, providing pure connotation without any denotation. Each of them reveals only what is on the page, making both of them inherently abstract.
In “A Statistically Derived Portrait”, I am not trying to make literal translations of these statistics. In a way I am chasing the soul of the statistic, building still lives that are an abstracted interpretation of the idea the statistics present. Some of the images are more literal than others, but they are never truth. The photographs are meant to accompany the statistic, never to replace it. All of these statistics, whether trivial or sad, try to form a picture as to what modern America is, something that statistics and photographs cannot do on their own.