Project Pitch

For my project I've decided to investigate the representation and identity of individuals through the use of Shop Windows. I think it's interesting that shops design their windows in elaborate ways in order to draw potential customers in. The shop windows themselves say quite a lot about the shop they're promoting, which speaks volumes about our capitalist society. Furthermore I would like to pay attention to the customers who walk by or enter the shops. I would like to leave my photographs ambiguous and leave it up to the audience whether they show either a positive or negative representation of the community.

Test shot: The photograph above shows different customers of The Disney Store. I was inspired by vernacular photography, whereby I wanted to document society the way it is rather than constructing the image. I was also inspired by the photographer Christopher Hue.

Representation in popular media:
In film and television, shopping is something that's usually associated with females, especially those who aren't very clever. This sometimes creates negative connotations.

Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009)

This movie is about a woman who is obsessed with shopping and ends up being in extreme debt. The screen captures above denote her being drawn to store windows as an adult and as a child.
"When I looked into shop windows I saw another world; a dreamy world full of perfect things."

Clueless (1995)

Cher's character in Clueless is also obsessed with shopping. It is meant to emphasise her air-brained personality and suggests that women who enjoy shopping are usually not very intelligent. In the screen shot above, Cher is in the middle of a crisis yet stops to look in a shop window. 

In my own photography I would like to subvert this stereotype that shopping is only something this stupid women enjoy, because in reality I think that all types of people engage in consumerist culture.