NORWICH, UK.- The focus of the portrait has traditionally been the human face, it is meant to reveal the inner life of the individual, the eyes were considered the window to the soul, and even today portraiture is surely a form of art easily accessible and understood by the majority of the population. But what happens when the ‘face’ is no longer present? The work in this exhibition is made up of the remnants of identity photographs, of what is left after the ‘face’ has been removed. But can the images on show still be classified as portraits? Is there any use for them? They were, after all, discarded by their owners, they are (literally) leftovers. Even the authority that ordered them is no longer interested in them: the face, the _expression of ones identity is absent.

Dell’Agli is asking us to think about the way we understand portraiture; generally there is something bland and vaguely unlike the sitter about identity photographs, an accurate portrayal perhaps, but also a betrayal. It doesn’t need to tell you anything about the person beyond a representation of facial appearance, the rest of the document that the photograph is attached to tells you the context in which the person is to be recognised; member of the student union, qualified driver, citizen of the European Union. But here there is no face and no document. And yet, as viewers, we are constantly attempting to read portraits.

These remnants offer scraps of individuality that have themselves been freed from a face. They reveal details that tell us how the sitters like to be seen by others. We can see a football shirt, we may even be able to recognise the team but can we judge the gender? But why wear an evening dress and gold chain for an identity photo? What club could you be joining?

Facelift is made up of 20 images printed on C-type photographic paper. Facelift will be also on show at The Brighton Photo Biennial from 24th October to 29th November .

Simona Dell’Agli is originally from Italy and has been living and working in London for ten years. She has graduated from the MA in Photographic Studies at The University of Westminster in 2001, and she has recently been working at Norwich School of Art and Design as part of the Artist Access to Art Colleges scheme. Her work as been shown in the UK, Italy and Estonia; her previous project (Il Miracolo Italiano) has been published as a limited edition Road Map, for sale at The Photographers’ Gallery Bookstore.