‘gregoire’ from ‘claytime’ by david bertram, 2012 photograph printed on RAG paper 120cm x 85cm (framed) all images courtesy the artist

french photographer david bertram has created an intimate photographic series entitled ‘claytime’. the collection of images picture ‘portraits of self-portraits’ as each of the twelve sitters wear self-formed clay masks of their own likeliness, visualized within their homes by the artist. in ‘claytime’, bertram deconstructs the conception of portraiture in art as necessitating a clear view of the sitter’s eyes in order to see his/her ‘inner truth’. the series is the photographer’s investigation of this particular photographic staple, offering a psychologically focused approach enabled through the use of the individual’s own materialized perception of themselves in combination with a particularly evocative setting. bertram’s work is informed by an exercise in psychoanalysis in which the patient is asked to model his/her own face from a piece of clay in order to unconsciously bring to light his/her own interaction with his/her traits, fears, complex and psychic identity for his/her analyst. 

‘despite differing modeling abilities, their faces are in some cases, rough, in other perfectly crafted, but always revealing. in a second step, I photographed these people, inside their homes, within a framework that defines them both personally and socially, and offers several clues about their personalities. subsequently, a photo montage allowed me to replace their ‘real’ faces by their mental projections in clay. once placed on the shoulders, the head of clay either contrasts with the body which receives it, or rather is an almost organic extension of this body, mysteriously revealing the forces that espouse or oppose in the person’s mind, the game between subjective and objective acting as a revelator [sic] of the soul… a kind of x-ray of the mind. I chose to light those pictures in a rather painting mood and often privileged static poses in order to give each portrait the expression of an ancient statue, frozen in time as the remains of a personality, memory of the real identity, the one that never changes.‘ -david bertram

clay mask portraits by david bertram ‘benoit’ photograph printed on RAG paper 120cm x 85cm (framed)

clay mask portraits by david bertram ‘florence’ photograph printed on RAG paper 120cm x 85cm (framed)

clay mask portraits by david bertram ‘lucas’ photograph printed on RAG paper 120cm x 85cm (framed)

clay mask portraits by david bertram ‘jean’ photograph printed on RAG paper 120cm x 85cm (framed)

clay mask portraits by david bertram ‘katia’ photograph printed on RAG paper 120cm x 85cm (framed)

clay mask portraits by david bertram ‘alain’ photograph printed on RAG paper 120cm x 85cm (framed)

clay mask portraits by david bertram ‘david, olivia, bulle, colombine’ photograph printed on RAG paper 120cm x 85cm (framed)

clay mask portraits by david bertram ‘aurelien’ photograph printed on RAG paper 120cm x 85cm (framed)

clay mask portraits by david bertram ‘francois’ photograph printed on RAG paper 120cm x 85cm (framed)

clay mask portraits by david bertram ‘louise’ photograph printed on RAG paper 120cm x 85cm (framed)

clay mask portraits by david bertram ‘armelle’ photograph printed on RAG paper 120cm x 85cm (framed)

via beautiful/decay