This week I researched magazines such as Blitz, i-D and The Face to help gain a deeper understanding of editorial layouts and publications. I found ‘Tissue: A Portfolio of Scars’ by Sean Ellis in The Face from 1997, and found it an exciting concept to question how scars affect our identity and show our ‘life map’.  Due to this editorial being from the 90s, I could not source the original visuals that accompanied the writing, so I wanted to create my own.

I photographed Rudi, a keen mountain biker, who broke his collarbone two years ago and had surgery to fix it, leaving a large scar. Although a scary experience, he has not let it affect him negatively and is still off-roading regularly. He is not afraid to show his scar and agrees that it shows what he has been through, much like Ellis explores in his editorial. I found that this tied into identity perfectly and demonstrates how our physical appearance is a key part of who we are.

I am really happy with this image turned out as I feel that the contrast in textures between the chain, skin and scar draws the viewer in successfully.

I also photographed my dad who got in a bad motorbike accident, gaining a severe friction burn to his inner thigh. He was close to needing a skin graph and so the area that is covered by scar tissue is significant, making for interesting textures.

It has been really interesting creating my own visuals for written content and helped me experiment with photographing difficult textures and capturing a part of physical identity that many people are, unnecessarily, ashamed of.