DiDi Gumbs

Unseeing focuses on the concept of being unable to understand the identity of others when looking at them. This is portrayed through a series of blurred portraits which creates a shape of the person without showing any specific features. There is a sense of dissociation from identity and those around you as soon as you go into public. When you set your eyes on something or someone, you do not fully register what you are looking at; no emotion, no personality, no person. They are no more than a figure passing by.

Our constant un-comfortability in society leaves us not wanting to look at ourselves or has us try to cover up certain parts. Blurring a person can symbolize hiding those features entirely to the point where we can no longer be recognized.

This series takes the idea of a regular portrait and transforms it into something unconventional. Instead of seeing and understanding someone from a portrait, we are left asking questions about the person and who they truly are.