Recently, an exhibit of the works of photographer Giada Otten entitled “New Identity” opened at Blackburn College. Otten’s work is complex and personal. Her exhibition is a collection of black and white photographs that she took and then painted over to emphasize a deeper meaning relating to her emotions during her early life and childhood.
Otten was born in Albania, but grew up in Italy. Her father died when she was only 14 years old, an event that has greatly influenced her work. She thought she knew who she was, but after he died, she began to question her identity. She then used this experience to inspire her work. “I wanted to represent how I felt in that moment and I wanted to show identity itself and how it changes through our life and experiences,” Otten explained. In the moment that she was creating her works, she was thinking about the loss of her father, which is why she chose the grim blue and black colors in her paintings.
She asked her subjects in the work to make a facial expression to show their feelings, and everyone generally made the same face. “It’s interesting,” she added, “because when I was taking pictures of very different people, I would see a little bit of myself in every one of the subjects.” Otten went on to explain, “I could see a bit of identity in everyone’s eyes and if you notice, some people had their eyes closed as if they were trying to hide their identity.”
The exhibition is open through Sept. 22 in the Visual Arts Center.
