Bettina von Zwehl gave a talk at College this week and this is one of her slides which she gave me. As it was the last slide show she would present (powerpoint beckons) she handed out her slides at the end of the talk. My 'lucky dip' slide belongs to one of her earlier projects, Profiles Two 2002. At this point in her career she was still focusing on the profiles of older people. Bettina street casts and approaches a stranger if she feels he or she has the right look for that particular project. As with all her projects, she asks her subjects to perform very specific tasks. On this occasion she asked him and the others in this series to close his eyes and adopt a Tai Chi pose for 10 minutes. She captures him lost in his own private world of concentration. His profile and lank body are visually striking and there is a tension in the air as if he might topple over at any minute. I love this image and cannot believe my luck that this was the one I pulled from the slide projector. Although her work requires the sitter to perform designated tasks she says it is unimportant as to whether the viewer is aware of the process however, I disagree because my enjoyment of the image is enhanced by the knowledge that this man is potentially going through a range of emotions, is it discomfort in maintining the pose or is it inner peace? This is what intrigues me about the image. I know something is going on in his head but I don't know what it is.