Subscribe
Search
ePaper
Newsletters
Subscribe
ePaper
Newsletters
Art market
Museums & heritage
Exhibitions
Books
Podcasts
Columns
Technology
Adventures with Van Gogh
Art market
Museums & heritage
Exhibitions
Books
Podcasts
Columns
Technology
Adventures with Van Gogh
Search
In the frame
blog

Quirky snaps reveal whats going on off-camera in passport photos

The Art Newspaper
27 September 2019
Share
No smiling please Henry and Hetty Hoover: one of Max Siedentopf's cheeky portraits © Courtesy the artist and Wellcome photography prize

No smiling please Henry and Hetty Hoover: one of Max Siedentopf's cheeky portraits © Courtesy the artist and Wellcome photography prize

Who actually likes their passport photo? Everyone dreads revealing their ten-year old pudding haircut (and more youthful features), while the stringent conditions for taking the pics (“No smile and mouth closed”) are terrifying. “It seems almost impossible for any kind of self-expression,” says the German-Namibian artist Max Siedentopf who has duly turned this dreary genre on its head with a series of quirky snaps that imagine what some passport picture people are doing off camera. In the online series, one participant has attached hoover hoses to his nipples while another stands in a dustbin (who knows what goes on in those photo booths).

In the framePhotography
Share
Subscribe to The Art Newspaper’s digital newsletter for your daily digest of essential news, views and analysis from the international art world delivered directly to your inbox.
Newsletter sign-up
Information
About
Contact
Cookie policy
Data protection
Privacy policy
Frequently Asked Questions
Subscription T&Cs
Terms and conditions
Advertise
Sister Papers
Sponsorship policy
Follow us
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
LinkedIn
© The Art Newspaper