“I don’t believe we were meant to see ourselves,” said Jane. “He said something about being mirrors enough to see another.”

~Lewis, C. S., That Hideous Strength

We are all being formed. From the very start of our existence, we can’t help but be formed.  Some things we choose to form us and some things form us without us even knowing. What we watch or read, trauma and affirmation, what I think of myself and what others desire for me. What even defines me? My vocation? My relationships? I think these questions create a deep tension that is innate in all of us and is a fundamental struggle in our being human because it touches on identity. This tension produces in us not only some of our greatest sorrows and pains, but also greatest joys. Identity is a huge and difficult topic but we are only focusing on the beginnings of identity. It is fascinating that our will-powered choices are only a tiny fragment of what we form into, yet, with or without intention, we are being formed. 

Portraits of Formation is a pretty straight forward project. It is an attempt, alongside their photo portrait, to take a snapshot of someone’s formation process and see what people are desiring to be formed into, what they are actually being formed into and what is doing the forming. These portraits are my reflection of what I am seeing through the picture I take and the questions I ask. There is nothing new in what I am doing here and it has been done many times before, but it is my small attempt at “being a mirror enough to see another.”