Abandoned Identity was my year 12 final for art, it’s a series of 8 shots taken on a mixture of medium- and large-format film.
All bar one of the shots on traditional silver halide negative film from Ilford, and the one colour shot on colour negative Kodak film.
The physical inkjet prints are in two distinct sizes; 25x20in for images #01 and #03, and 20x16in for all the others.
The series explores the search for identity and belonging, particularly among young people, in places left behind by society.
Shot in 2 different locations across Melbourne, these spaces mirror the experiences of a generation struggling to find room for self-expression and a place of their own.
The recurring element of graffiti throughout the series speaks particularly to this urge for voice and the need to express one's identity.
Abandoned Identity is made up of two standalone images, and three further diptych-like pairs of images, each contributing to the narrative of reclaiming space, expressing identity, and finding belonging.
'Abandoned Identity #01' - 2025, Linhof Technika III, 150mm, Ilford Ortho Plus 80
'Abandoned Identity #08' - 2025, Linhof Technika III, 90mm, Ilford HP5 Plus 400 pushed one stop to 800iso
'Abandoned Identity #10' - 2025, Mamiya RB67, 50mm, Ilford HP5 Plus 400 pushed one stop to 800iso
'Abandoned Identity #05' - 2025, Linhof Technika III, 90mm, Ilford HP5 Plus 400 pushed one stop to 800iso
'Abandoned Identity #04' - 2025, Mamiya RB67, 50mm, Ilford HP5 Plus 400 pushed one stop to 800iso
'Abandoned Identity #07' - 2025, Linhof Technika III, 90mm, Ilford HP5 Plus 400 pushed one stop to 800iso
'Abandoned Identity #11' - 2025, Mamiya RB67, 50mm, Ilford HP5 Plus 400 pushed one stop to 800iso
'Abandoned Identity #03' - 2025, Linhof Technika III, 90mm, Kodak Ektar 100
In my final submission for year 12, I omitted images #07 and #11, as I felt they didn’t fit in as well with my intention, but I’ve chosen to include them here in this digital display as I feel they’re still good shots nonetheless.
There does actually exist a large print of image #07 but I chose to not frame it, no physical print of image #11 was made for this series.
For this project; I purchased film from Walkens House of Film in Fitzroy, had all my film developed, and my roll film scanned by Vanbar Imaging in Thornbury,
had my sheet film scanned by Image Science in North Melbourne, had my photos printed by Thirds fine art printing in Brunswick,
and finally my prints framed by Frames Readymade in Brunswick East.
I’d particularly like to thank Tim from Thirds, not just for his superb job printing this series, but also for his immensely helpful suggestions and advice throughout the editing process,
and for responding to my countless email questions, and dealing with my handful of test print runs. Thanks Tim.
