Laurence Philomène: Me vs. Others
© Laurence Philomène, molly soda as me, 2018
Written by Ann Catherine Hughes
Everyone crafts a mask intended for particular environments and people. In their series Me vs. Others, Laurence Philomène explores how a person curates their own “self-image”, and how the lines between fiction and reality can blur.
Due to online harassment from men, the artist was afraid of showing their face online for a time. They took this opportunity to get creative with the art of the self-portrait, and chose to substitute themselves with people they could trust. Philomène created a myriad of self-portraits portrayed by various individuals in their life – friends, loved ones, and artists they met on their travels.
Each person sports a bright, neon orange wig with bangs, resembling Philomène’s orange hair. The series contains photos that are sometimes autobiographical, and sometimes fictional. Eventually the project began to evolve into less of an attempt to conceal oneself and maintain a sense of identity but to explore oneself.
© Laurence Philomène, holly as me, 2017
Me vs. Others takes a look into the identities a person develops over time, as well as the identities that could have been. It considers the idea that life can go in various directions and affect an individual’s personhood. Everyone contemplates who and where they could have been had they not met someone or an event, however significant or insignificant, not occurred in their life.
The series also takes into consideration the artist’s queerness and gender identity. One image depicts two individuals both wearing the signature orange wig, dressed in dark blue shirt, passionately embracing in front of a dark blue wall. According to Philomène, “there is also a non-binary aspect to the series, constantly oscillating between assigned-male-at-birth and assigned-female-at-birth bodies, like the confusion in my mind of where I stand as a trans masculine person that doesn’t ‘pass’.”
© Laurence Philomène, kiss (on being single), 2018
This series is bathed in vibrant primary and pastel colors — mainly orange, pink, and blue. Me vs. Others tells a story, like a richly colored children’s book; in spite of the serious subject matter, the color evokes a feeling of happiness and positivity. The artist’s use of color is a running theme throughout much of their work, used to communicate the joy of being queer and transgender.
A number of people have their backs turned to the camera or their faces obscured by hair. These mysterious characters serve – as Philomène describes – as a trompe l’oeil, for the viewer to question whether or not it is the artist in the photo. This enhances the mystique of not only Philomène, but also the models.
© Laurence Philomène, lyndsie as me, 2016
This ambiguity in what is fact or fiction in concern to Philomène’s identity speaks to the issues revolving around how people – especially celebrities and influencers – present their lives publicly. It’s accepted now that social media posts don’t often portray an honest depiction of someone’s life.
In an interview Philomène stated, “At the end of the day it is a self-portrait series, and it’s about creating an imaginary visual diary of my life; some of it is romanticized, some of it is not, the viewers are left to decide which is which.”
© Laurence Philomène, sam as me, 2018
© Laurence Philomène, mer as me in my room, 2018
Life is a never-ending exploration into the self. You can never truly know a person — and sometimes those people may not entirely know themselves. Depending on who a person is with, they may wear many different masks. Philomène doesn’t lament over their identity and the hardships of creating an identity in Me vs. Others, but ponders on the possibilities of identity, and the intriguing discoveries one can make about themselves.
