Headphone Portraits is a portrait series of people on the street with headphones. I believe that everyone has multiple layers within, and all the layers as a whole represent one’s identity. People choose to present some of their layers to the world to share their identities, but at the same time they use those layers to protect their inner layers. While creating the Headphone Portraits, I realized that the project is a process of peeling other people’s layers, because one’s taste in music is a layer of self-identity. I walk up to strangers on the street, introduce myself, talk to them, take their photos, and inquire the songs they are listening to. As each person that I approached has shown different level and amount of layers with me, I have also chosen to reveal different layers of myself to each of my subject. Through Headphone Portraits, I intend to capture the interesting and thought-provoking way of how people view their own identities, how they present them, and how they protect them.

Ed Shao

Popular tracks