iD2012 Award announcement
‘The school photo portrait records our progression through childhood and early adulthood, presenting a composed and formal visual account of our school years. Laura Moore’s digital portrait evokes other levels of school day memories. The work is startling, poignant and powerful. The judges were in complete agreement to name Laura Moore as the inaugural recipient of the iD Digital Portraiture Award.’
Dr Christopher Chapman, Senior Curator,
National Portrait Gallery
Animation 1 from the series Hereinbefore, 2012
Laura Moore
This self portrait addresses the theme of identity, both of self and society. School photos are a cultural symbol, a rite of passage and a document of our growth and journey into adulthood. Appropriating the style of the familiar school photo, this work subverts what is ordinary to present an alternative truth. As an autobiographical work, it is my reflection on the child I was and tells of the compassion I feel for the journey she will take. In a broader context this work acknowledges the difficulties of traveling from the innocence of childhood to the realities of adulthood. Our school years can be amazing years of self-discovery but are also loaded with pressures and challenges. An animation made of still photos, this digital portrait moves beyond the frozen smiling images of our school portraits to show an element of childhood that is rarely communicated.