Rejected Identities
Rejected identities focuses on the confrontation between personal identity and obligatory identification photography.
“The crux of this artistic production lies in the tension between the self-image and the perception by others. Willem Popelier disassociates himself from his own self-image. So what are we actually looking at in a photographic portrait?”
– Katja Müller-Helle on Rejected Identities in the publication This is Willem Popelier, C/O Berlin, 2012.
✽
Selection
Gallery of Honour
of Dutch Photography
Nederlands Fotomuseum, 2021
Selection
Gallery of Honour
of Dutch Photography
✽
Nomination
Dutch Doc Award
Category Best innovation & experiment in photography, 2010
Nomination
Dutch Doc Award
In the Netherlands an ID Photo has to meet 39 specific criteria. The work Rejected identities includes 39 ID photos of Willem Popelier along with these 39 criteria.
All of the 39 photos in this project were made in 2009 by photo studios, following the official rules. At the same time Popelier secretly tried to violate the rules, while sitting in front of the camera.
Subsequently each resulting photo was inspected by the Dutch government.
20 of the 39 ID photos were rejected.
This project questions the mechanical character of the Dutch ID Photo system. This system is, since World War II, an example in the world where it comes to thoroughness and efficiency.
40 perspex plates, 40 A4 sheets of paper, 39 identity pictures, 2009
Exhibition view at C/O Berlin, 2012: 40 plates with 39 criteria and 39 ID photos
Exhibition view (detail) at C/O Berlin, 2012
1. Passport photo dimensions: 35 mm x 45 mm
2. Width: from ear to ear, between 16 mm and 20 mm
3. Height: from chin to crown, between 19 and 30 mm
4. In colour
5. A true likeness
6. Natural representation
7. In focus, sufficient contrast, discernible fine facial features
8. Undamaged
9. Not a reproduction (copy)
10. Not manipulated
11. Printed on high-quality, smooth photo paper
12. Minimum 400 dpi resolution
13. Light grey, pale blue, or white background
14. Uniformly lit background
15. Background of one colour only
16. No merging of colours
17. Sufficient contrast between head and background
18. Head uncovered
19. Face entirely visible
20. Eyes entirely visible
21. Head facing forward
22. Eyes on a horizontal line
23. Head not tilted to one side
24. Shoulders straight
25. No visible support
26. Neutral facial expression
27. Looking straight at the camera
28. Mouth closed
29. Eyes entirely visible
30. Fully transparent lenses of eyeglasses
31. No distortion caused by reflection from eyeglasses
32. No shadow caused by eyeglasses
33. Uniformly lit
34. Not overexposed or underexposed
35. No shadow on the face or the background
36. No reflection on the face
37. No reflection caused by accessories
38. Head fully visible
