I was so fortunate to receive a lot of feedback during the exhibition.
Feedback Cards:-
Email Feedback:-
“This looks amazing. Thank you for all that you are doing to change the message”– The Rt Revd Rachel Treweek, Bishop of Gloucester
“I’ve been following your project for quite a long time – blog and Instagram and I think it was not only a brilliant idea but a model for how to follow a concept through from start to finish in an engaging, sometimes playful and yet serious way. The website is comprehensive and clearly laid out and I enjoyed watching your artist talk and listening to the interview. Wishing you much success in the future.” – Catherine Banks, Photographer
“This is a body of work which addresses a serious issue in an entertaining way and with a lightness of touch. Interesting and informative, it has been a pleasure to watch this project developing. Well done Jo.” – Philip Morris, peer
“Brilliant exhibition. The photos enhanced to make ‘me’ more appealing on Instagram were very interesting. My favourites were California and London. It was good to chat through some of the lengths people will go to in order to change their appearance! The depth to which you developed this subject is amazing and to a non-makeup wearing non-enhancing image ‘older’ person I learned a heck of a lot!” – Margaret Coleman
Survey Feedback:-
“How do we know where we start from? How do we know what is the truth? What is real? What is our identity? Who are we? How do we determine our identity? You are really embracing who you are and yourself in this exhibition.” – anon
“Are you struggling with your own identity? Or are you concerned with the impact of SM on others?” – Mary
“None of us really know what we look like in real life – a mirror is just a reverse image with light coming in at different angles.” – John
“Thank you for the honesty in your work” – Sarah
Verbal Feedback:-
“Tim Berners-Lee couldn’t have known what he would unleash on the world” – Elizabeth
“Really great exhibition. Would you be interested in an artist’s talk in January? Keep in touch and we can organise something.” – Fred Chance, Co-curator of PhotoStroud
“Love the mask of divine proportion and the contour tribe –they really caught my eye. I am exploring crossdressing myself and love your work exploring issues around makeup. It is really encouraging me to keep going with the cross-dressing. Thank you” – anon
“I am from Germany and we do not have the same obsession with social media that you have here. In the UK it is huge. Young people look at their phones every 8 minutes – I heard this on the radio. I hope it all crashes down soon so that people talk to each other more. My grand-daughter is obsessed with her looks and she doesn’t need to be as she is so pretty. It is such a shame. I wish you lots of luck in raising awareness.” – Rosalinde
“How do we stop ourselves slipping down this path? I worry for my daughter – she spends hours in imaginary worlds ‘making’ money and presenting herself in an imaginary way. I really hope your work highlights the issues to everyone and creates more conversation – we need to talk about this and stop the slippery slide.” – Rachel
“Really interesting work – are you represented by a gallery yet? You should be. This work should be on display in London – it is contemporary art and should be seen – I have seen nothing like this – excellent work. Thank you for sharing it.” – Margarita
“The combination of sayings and images on your Instagram gallery is really interesting. The ‘love your #selfie’ saying with your unaltered portrait is genius” – Liam
“This is better than the last thing I saw at the Tate” – Bob, local artist
“This is the best and most professional show we have seen in this gallery” – Sophia and Neil, local artists
“An awful lot of research has gone into this project – I hope you take it further” – Carol, doctoral student in psychology
“I really dislike how Portraitpro changes people so that it doesn’t look like them. Thank you for an interesting exhibition that has given us lots to talk about and lots to think about as photographers” – Local photography club
“Consider the use of the labels. They are useful for adding information but would be better as an information panel on the image itself” – David, local artist
“You are so much better looking in real life” – anon
“You are so clever – it is really good to highlight these things – we need to talk about them Love the titles of the images, especially the bags under my eyes are Chanel. Must be surreal to look at so many images of yourself- although we all do it on social media. I am in my 50s and have only just learned to love myself for who I am. Once we post an image online, it is no longer ours – anyone can use it, change it etc. – SCARY!” – Janet
“I really want to see what happens next –this is like the first rung on the ladder to understanding our online identity. The large images remind me of Chuck Black’s large portraits and of Jaye Saville’s work. Love the mask of divine proportion” – George
“Your digital presence and identity is part of your real identity. See too many people edit their pics online and then obsess about becoming that person in real life. Your work reminds me of Cindy Sherman and the work of ORLAN. Social media is too obsessive – I came off my personal profile because I became too obsessed – I would only get 50 likes for a selfie and a friend would get 100. I would then compare myself to them and began to question what was wrong with me if I only got 50 likes. At that point, I decided it was too negative to stay on there. Your lashes images remind me of drag queen makeup” – Sam
“Wow! Seeing you here amongst your work is like seeing a movie star!” – Jane
“This exhibition was highly commended by Fred Chance who told us to come. He was right – it is amazing. Wow, what a lot of work” – Sue and David
“Incredible how you are able to transform yourself and reflect that back to the viewer. You are so malleable in the work. I can hardly believe all the pictures are of you” – anon
“Great exhibition – do you do seances?” – anon – this was by far the strangest thing said to me during the exhibition. I did ask the lady to repeat the question and she said exactly the same thing. I politely declined! Only in Stroud.
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