Authority 2000

Photography is not just the most efficient technology for memory work, it is also the mirror which promises to reflect the secrets of the self. The popularity of photography is linked to our narcissism. In the first decade of the camera’s invention over 90% of all photographs were portraits. Throughout the Twentieth Century the representation of ideas and commodities was invariably linked to a face.… Continued

The body of work by Polixeni Papapetrou collectively entitled Authority deals with fashion and power. The work involves a dialogue between contemporary and pre-industrial people and their clothes, connecting radically different conventions which, in spite of lying on either side of a historical divide, carry on a tradition of projecting Authority. The comparison is not without irony. Parallels between ancient majestic guises and contemporary fashion would be chilling were it not for the buoyant and parodic theatricality with which Papapetrou and her sitters take on the weight of their logos.… Continued