Luis Felipe Rios - Is this a faceless life?

I have always love portraiture, it’s been something fascinating for me. To be able to capture so many feelings through a still image, a moment. The combination of eyes, mouth, expressions and head positions; creates a meaning. I started the project during the COVID-19 pandemic; in May 2020. I wanted to do a portraiture project for a while, but what I found while getting started, was that, more than half the face was out of the picture. Masks stole so many factors within human expression, so that raised a question in my head.

Are we able to express different emotions with our masks on? With our new faces.

So... that question shaped my entire project, it was not just portraiture in B&W style; it became several portraits of each individual, as many expressions as they could show. A lot of them look forced, unnatural, like they are trying as hard as they can to express an emotion with the mask on. No, they are not supposed to look spontaneous. I asked each of them to show me anger, sadness, disappointment, happiness, boringness, discouragement, among others. They all tried their best, some looked natural, some did not; some were able to show many emotions, some looked exactly the same in many.

Are we able to express different emotions with 40% of our faces?

Some are, some aren't. This is what my Nikon camera and me, armed with a Tamron 90mm Macro lens found. The real question we should ask ourselves is... Am I able to show emotions like this? Are people able to get feelings from my face?

Or did I just became a faceless man...

This picture is the one that inspired the whole project. This is my grandfather fighting his phone, trying to learn how to use it as the pandemic changed the way he used to work. This picture is not part of the project, it does not look the same, but it is the one that raised the question and started this last months of work.