David O'Shea | Queens Being Kings

It has been my experience in both my home life and external environment that who I am was seen as incorrect or a second to what would have been wanted for me to be. At times an individual may try to assimilate themselves to try to appease the desires of someone else by oppressing their own character and putting on the guard of a different type. But it has also been my experience that when one does so, there is a one dimensional and falseness to the naked eye that cannot be masked however extreme your attempts may be. 
Queens Being Kings came about from that idea. The idea was to find a “type” or figure that represents the most extremes of the desires from others for me to be. I decided on a monarch of England because of the public image they project of moral perfection. By going to this extreme of difference I was left with an image with holes in the facade. The subtleties left in the image such as the rental tag on the pant leg, to the dirty shoes, and the foot prints around us were left unedited to show that despite ones efforts, the reality that this was fiction could not be hidden. The effort to assimilate ones self often leaves a character buried in a pile of ill fitting and uncomfortable fabrics that further distance them from both themselves, and the ones they are trying to satisfy.