Alex March’s studio practice reflects an ongoing investigation of the domestic archive as everyday portrait and place for identification and the formation of identity, and explores in particular the image/object relationship of the family photograph. In each photographic piece the surface of the ph…

Alex March’s studio practice reflects an ongoing investigation of the domestic archive as everyday portrait and place for identification and the formation of identity, and explores in particular the image/object relationship of the family photograph. In each photographic piece the surface of the photographic print is carefully incised and removed, leaving an ambiguous white space. This space is analogous to the gap between the original and its representation.<br/> <br/> The incising and removing of portions of the surface of the photograph feels like a violent act of defacing, while the scalpel has literally de-faced the subject of each portrait. This act plays on the relationship between photograph as object or copy and as image or representation, but also turns upon the essence or removal of essential qualities in portraiture. <br/> <br/> The exploration of the family photographic archive elevates the humble yet treasured origins of family history ephemera to status of artwork. Through their exploration the audience is able to both identify with the archetype: for everyone has seen, or owns pictures like these; and empathize with the clichéd impulse to relive remembered moments; but also to embrace notions of identity as formed by experience.