Institutional Traits (Series 1)

Sarah Bennett installation at Exeter Collage of Art and Design, March/April 2012

Click on images for my thoughts and reactions to this exhibition.

Low quality images from employee photo identity cards have been scanned at a high resolution, enlarged and printed, creating a series of portraits revealing scratches that have been created by interaction with security systems at the workplace and damaged caused by carrying them in, a pocket, a purse, a wallet etc.

The visual representations of the employees have become a map or account of time (or time served) – the electronic data saved on their id cards remains intact. The recognizable features of the workforce have become faceless, leaving our natural verifier of a person’s identity (sight and recognition) irrelevant, the system is only interested in the number or the code identity of the individual.

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About peter

'Death by Sushi' Fish can kill me. When I was very small (maybe 3 or 4 years old) my grandfather, who lost the sight of one eye from a bullet fired by a German sniper (fortunately not a very good one) during the Battle of the Somme in World War 1, wiped my face with the corner of his apron, an apron he had used to wipe his filleting knife on. He was a grocery shopkeeper who specialized in wet fish.