In this series of photographs from 2001, Cave Women, Knights, Primitives, and Skaters, I constructed fictional communities based on familiar cultural stereotypes. Each group appears as a uniform collective, its members adopting the same costume, pose, and expression until individuality almost disappears.

A small but crucial gesture disrupts this apparent clarity. Every subject has their eyes closed, while painted eyes on their eyelids create the illusion of an unwavering gaze. The photographs oscillate between stillness and performance, exposing the image itself as a carefully constructed fiction.

Set against a white backdrop and a simple wooden floor, the scenes are intentionally stripped of context. Their direct, almost deadpan presentation amplifies the artificiality of the characters, revealing how readily stereotypes transform complex identities into instantly readable images. Rather than confirming these clichés, the works draw attention to the mechanisms through which they are produced and accepted.