cartography 06 Photograph - Limited Edition of 1

Obfuscations of authentic selves in favour of laboured constructions, ornate, multilayered representations of desired identities and the perceptions of these, serve as illustrative catalysts to Ward Roberts’ latest photography excavation, Cartography. Authored between 2012 and 2015, twelve ethereal portraits, suffused throughout with Roberts’ synonymous pastel palette, examine that duality of visible and obscured selves, tangible and intangible constitutions, and concealed and explicit biographies, all within a deeper exploration of the ever-increasing ephemerality of self, in an aeon of ready digital manipulation, wanted avatars, and vacillating identities. Influenced by the chromatic works of light sculptor, James Turrell, anonymous 19th century photography depictions of ectoplasm, and the baroque chiaroscuros of the Italian Renaissance, Cartography pursues evolved conceptions and constructions of selves and the narratives enacted by such, all amidst attempting to restore that equilibrium and lucidity surrendered to mythopoeia, narcissism, aggrandisement and self-deception, conscious, and otherwise.