“Photography has a complex relationship to identity construction.”
- Lissa Rivera
Lissa Rivera is a contemporary photographer whose work focuses on themes of identity, representation, and the constructed nature of photography. Her practice often involves the reworking of found archival images, particularly 19th century studio portraits, in order to question how photography has historically shaped ideas of selfhood and social status.
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Rather than treating photographs as neutral documents, Rivera approaches them as cultural artefacts that carry assumptions about gender, class, and identity. Through didgital intervention, she disrupts these assumptions and invites viewers to reconsider what photographs communicate beyond their surface appearance.
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In her series 'Absence Portraits', Rivera removes the subject from 19th century studio photographs, leaving behind only painted backdrops, furniture, and props that once framed the subject. These studio environments were carefully constructed to project refinement, wealth, or respectability, often regardless of the subject's true circumstances. By erasing the figure entirely, Rivera exposes how much of a portrait's meaning in produced by its surroundings rather than the individual themselves. The resulting images feel uncanny and incomplete, transforming what were once personal portraits into empty stages that highlight the performative nature of early photography.
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By working with 19th century portraits specifically, Rivera is engaging with a time when photography carried huge cultural weight. Portraits were often taken to mark social status, preserve memory, or immortalise loved ones, especially during periods of high mortality. The painted backdrops and props used in studios were designed to project wealth, stability, and respectability, even when these qualities did not reflect the subject's real life. Rivera removes the subject to expose how much of the image's meaning came from these artificial elements rather than the individual.
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The absence of the subject plays a crucial conceptual role in the series. Rather than feeling empty, the images become spaces for projection, prompting viewers to imagine who once occupied the frame and why. This shift places the responsibility of meaning making onto the viewer, emphasising that photographs are not fixed in interpretation. Rivera's work suggests that identity within photography is not inherent or truthful, but constructed through visual cues, framing, and context. By removing the central figure, she reveals how photography often functions as a form of storytelling rather than objective record keeping.
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Rivera's 'Absence Portraits' are contextually relevant to my project through a shared exploration of absence and ambiguity. While Rivera achieves this through the literal removal of the subject, my work explores similar ideas through environmental imagery, negative space, obscured scenes, and muted colour palettes. Both approaches challenge the expectation that photography must clearly represent a subject to construct a narrative of somebody. Instead, meaning is generated through what is withheld, allowing viewers to project their own emotions, memories, and interpretations onto the image.
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For me, her work reinforces the idea that atmosphere and context can carry as much emotional weight as a visible subject.
“Found photographs have intrinsic qualities that shape our perceptions of an image and inform our understanding of its time, place, and socioeconomic circumstances… Bereft of the individual, only a stage remains.”
- The Independent
"The tension between presence and absence is heightened by the placement of objects
that were meant to compliment the body of a person no longer there. The stage that we see is a
perfect tableaux of projected desires and fantasies. In an attempt to transcend class and location
during a time when photography was mostly restricted to the studio, a virtual environment is
created which eerily resonates with our digital age."
- The Independent
At first glance, the image presents an empty studio backdrop featuring a draped chair positioned to the left of the frame. The chair is partially covered with heavy fabric, carefully arranged to suggest elegance and refinement, while a tasselled object hangs from the armrest. The background is plan and softly textured, with no visible architectural detail beyond a faint horizontal line separating it from the floor. The overall composition feels quiet, and elegant.
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The absence of the human figure becomes the dominant feature of the image. This missing presence draws attention to the space where a person would have once been, encouraging the viewer to imagine who occupied the chair and how they may have represented themselves. Rather than feeling empty, the image feels expectant, as though the subject has only just left or is about to return.
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The set itself is highly symbolic of the 19th century studio portraiture. Chairs like this were commonly used to support subjects during long exposure times, while draped fabrics and tassels functioned as visual indicators of wealth, taste, and social aspiration. These props were rarely personal, instead they were generic signifiers designed to elevate the subject's perceived status. By isolating the set from the subject, Rivera exposes the studio environment as a constructed stage rather than a truthful reflection of the individual. The image suggest that identity in early portrait photography was shaped as much by surroundings as by the person themselves.
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The chair can be read as a signifier of authority, stability, or respectability, while the draped fabric connotes luxury and refinement. However, without the sitter, these signs lose their intended function and become hollow. The props still attempt to communicate status, but without a body to anchor meaning, they instead highlight the artificiality of the message. This reinforces Rivera's critique of portrait photography as a performative act, where meaning is imposed through symbols rather than inherent truth.
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The negative space to the right of the frame is particularly significant. It creates visual imbalance, amplifying the sense of absence and directing the viewer's attention toward what is missing rather than what remains. This negative space becomes an active element, inviting projection and interpretation. The viewer is compelled to mentally reconstruct the image, completing the portrait through imagination rather than observation.
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Technically, the image reflects the visual language of early photographic processes. The soft tonal range, muted contrast, and sepia colouring evoke the material qualities of historical photographs, reinforcing the work's archival feel. The shallow depth of field and lack of clarity and detail prevent the image from feeling contemporary or overly sharp. The composition is static and formal, echoing traditional studio portrait styles, while the controlled lighting ensures no dramatic shadows distract from the emptiness of the scene. Rivera's digital manipulation is seamless, allowing the image to retain its historical authenticity.
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Overall, I think this image functions as a critique of photographic representation. By removing the subject, Rivera shifts attention from identity as something visible to identity as something constructed. The photograph no longer documents a person but instead reveals the mechanisms through which photography once claimed to define them. Absence becomes the subject, transforming the portrait into a base for memory, projection, and the unreliable nature of photographic truth.