I stumbled upon the work of Ari Versluis and Ellie Uyttenbroek when I found the Up With Grups article a while back.
Their Exactitudes series can be found here. Essentially, it is a collection of portrait compositions in which several people are photographed in the dresscode their subculture prescribes.
By registering their subjects in an identical framework, with similar poses and a strictly observed dress code, Versluis and Uyttenbroek provide an almost scientific, anthropological record of people's attempts to distinguish themselves from others by assuming a group identity.
I've often read and said that such specific subcultures have almost ceased to exist. We like to talk about the 'à la carte - generation' today: picking the stuff you like from the different subculture's menus. The web and the way we can grab influences from every corner of the globe and every different culture means that we develop other skills, and excellling in the combination of different elements becomes the new badge for members of the creative class.
It seems as if embedding yourself in one specific niche is just not original enough anymore. Especially since most subcultures have been abused (and in some cases downright raped) by brands and marketers alike, turning them into a kind of 'precreated identities' which are the cheap cop-out for some.
What's worrying is that marketeers don't seem to understand the idea, a lot of companies are still trying to create and define new groups, and that can take on ridiculous proportions.
Look at the recent Get a Mac campaign: it's the creative, hip and young individual versus the rest of the (nerdy and boring) world. Yet drop in to the Apple store in Prince Street and you'll see a whole different image: grannies with tons of questions because they promised to buy a nano for their grandchildren, 50 somethings willing to join the evergrowing legions of mp3 users who opt for the leading brand, shopping tourists who do every concept store in Manhattan,...
The term exactitudes suggests a certain scientific categorisation, which was never there in the first place. And it's about time we start to live with it and forget about overt identity strategies. Clients can come from anywhere for different reasons and might just be a good idea not to alienate them by putting them under a different (and unwanted?) label.
Nice photo's though.
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