My name is Connie Hack and I am a photographer based in the UK, recently graduated in BA Hons Photography at the University of Portsmouth. I predominantly focus on identity through portraiture and also explore documentary practices. My work expresses the ideas surrounding mental and physical health, approaching the topic in a truthful and respectful manner - using personal experiences and the experiences of other individuals. I have a combination of commissioned photographs and photographs within a series I have created.
Happily Whatever You're After is a project focused on the ideas and values commonly found in fairytales, but also within advertising where the values become integrated into the marketing of products. This has had an influence in contemporary society because the themes have been interpreted into modern conception of desire and how these in turn play a part in the formation of identity and notions of self.
Sleeping Beauty is a body of work that has been staged for the purpose of portraying complexities and struggles that individual's face. It has created a sense of ambiguity and is left open to the viewer to find their own narrative within the images. The melancholy and solitude being depicted through the emptiness of the room and the dull tones, reinforces the fear that one is thought worthless.
Unseen is a series of images that is representing Mental Health by demonstrating that it is an illness and something that cannot be shown through an image. It is an Unseen disorder. The selection of standard portraits has no portrayal on the illness any of the individual's are suffering with, or the severity of it, or whether they have been diagnosed. The viewer becomes aware that Mental Health is not something you can judge through a photograph or completely understand their identity.
Boundaries is a two part project, the first is looking at the physical boundaries individual's face when suffering with a terminal illness and how these become part of their identity. The second part focuses on the impact the presence of an absent family member can have on another individual. It explores both physical and mental boundaries for the terminally ill and others who are in close relation, and how these can alter someone's identity.