Theory of Conversation

Theory of Conversation uses photography and audio to convey a more profound, more personal, and ultimately human connection between people. Incorporating both the participant’s creative portrait and the fascinating environment they spend most of their time in— an environment that serves as a loose thread into their lives— highlighting subtle and somewhat intricate details that make them who they are. The creative portrait part of this project focuses on the desire and freedom of the participant to create their perspective for both the creator and viewer to witness. It is completely up to the participants to illustrate or express themselves the way they truly want to be seen. In one sense it’s almost more intriguing to see what the participant does, but it’s necessary to include both parts. It creates a theoretical conversation. There’s a dialogue between two people, one perspective shown through one set of documentary images and another perspective shown through the portrait. A conversation that raises questions, but is answered by the images and audio that accompanies them.

To be clear, capturing all the complexities that encompass the whole of a person’s identity may be viewed as impossible. Nevertheless, Theory of Conversation—at the very least—aims to illustrate the potential for developing a genuine understanding of another individual through the lens of two distinct perspectives: that of the creator and that of the subject.