The contradiction between individuality and uniformity is the tipping point for designers crafting distinctive styles or commercial trends. Photographer Ari Verluis with profiler Ellie Uyttenbroek collaborated to create their series Exactitudes, documenting human identities over the last 14 years. By registering their subjects in an identical framework, with similar poses and a strictly observed dress code, Versluis and Uyttenbroek provide an almost scientific, anthropological record of people’s attempts to distinguish themselves from others by assuming a group identity. The duality of individual expression while belonging to a social network defines consumer selection that drives retail decisions. Exactitudes cleverly begins to chart these patterns while injecting some humor.
37. Chairmen – Beijing 1999
98. Gayos – Rotterdam 2008
109. Les filles du 7ème – Paris 2008
105. Flexmanagers – Rotterdam/Paris 2008
94. Bu Ying! – London 2008
56. Homeboys – Rotterdam 2002
74. Volunteers – Rotterdam 2006
