Know Who You Are

Know, first, who you are …. and then adorn yourself accordingly.
– Epictetus

Omo Valley, Ethiopia

India

The more people explore the world, the more they realize
in every country there’s a different aesthetic.
Beauty really is in the eye of the beholder.
- Helena Christensen

Los Angeles, California

If you were to gather all the clothes you have ever owned in your life,
you would have your autobiography.
-  Linda Grant, The Thoughtful Dresser

Iraq 

Style is an expression of individualism mixed with charisma.
- John Fairchild

Thailand

United States

The employment of body marks to denote class, totems, and
families illustrates stages in the evolution of group consciousness and a
sense of corporate existance.
- W. D. Hambly, The History of Tattooing, 1925

United States

Thailand

Bride on her wedding day, India

Up, up, fair bride, and call
Thy stars from out their several boxes, take
Thy rubies, pearls, and diamonds forth, and make
Thyself a constellation of them all.
- John Donne

Angkor Wat temple complex, Cambodia

Niger

Ethiopia

Philippines

Cuba

A Kara woman in the Omo Valley, Ethiopia

Kalash Woman in Pakistan

Burma

Thanaka cream, ground from tree bark,  has been used by Burmese women to
decorate their faces for thousands of years.

Omo Valley, Ethiopia

An actor with painted face in costume for the “Lulu” show , during the Spoleto Art Festival, Spoleto, Italy

Tibet

…Keep the color in your cheek and the fire in your eye,
adorn your person, maintain your health, your beauty and your animal spirits.
- William Hazlitt

 Beqaa Valley, Lebanon

Burma

Young Wodaabe Man, Niger
Niger’s Wodaabe men decorate their faces and dance for hours to impress female judges.

United States

Baluchistan, Pakistan

Tibet

No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace
As I have seen in one autumnal face.
-  John Donne, on the beauty of old age

Kashmir

It is common for men in Kashmir to use henna dye on their hair or beards.
They also wear clothes of vivid colors. A subtle mix of colorful fabrics surrounds the man’s
eyes, while his beard, like a flame, flickers from his chin.

 Saddhu, India 

We adorn ourselves to stand out,  fit in, to establish our identity and status, communicate our roles,
and to find our place in the world. 

PLEASE LOOK FOR INFORMATION ABOUT OUR PORTRAIT APP IN LATE NOVEMBER 

EXHIBITIONS

Oeksnehallen, Copenhagen, Denmark – Ongoing
Gallery N, Seoul Arts Centre, Seoul, South Korea – Opening on September 12th, 2012
Leica Photokina, Hall 1, Cologne, Germany – September 18, 2012
Centro Municipal de Arte Helio Oiticica, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – October 6th, 2012
Plazzo Ducale, Genova, Italy – October 17, 2012
Annenberg Space for Photography, Los Angeles – November 15, 2012
Chris Beetles Gallery, London, U.K. – January 15, 2013
Kunstmuseum-Wolfsburg, Germany – January 19, 2013
Kunsthalle Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland – June 1, 2013