Doppelgänger:
[dop-uhl-gang-er; Ger. daw-puhl-geng-er]
–noun
a ghostly double or counterpart of a living person.
Doppelgängers are traditionally thought of as an exact copy of yourself living completely unaware of your existence. Generally, a doppelgänger is considered something like an evil twin or darker counter part with the opposite ideals of your own. However, the origin of the word tells of a different creature that predicts death. If you intersect paths with your own doppelgänger, it's advised that you do not engage in any sort of contact, specifically meeting eyes. There have been several reports throughout history of people in power, such as Abraham Lincoln and Queen Elizabeth I, who have seen this type of wraith mere weeks before their own deaths. Marked as an omen of ill fate, the doppelgänger is a rare sight but an inevitable fear.
Despite the Germanic folklore that burned these ideas into our minds, I see the doppelgänger as something different. The purpose of any lore is to instill a sense of fear and caution through telling tall tales loosely based on facts or, more often, misunderstandings. Every person is said to be born with a doppelgänger, though few ever see theirs. What if this myth was actually a mental truth only solidified in "human" form to heighten the anxiety of the story? What if our doppelgänger was mere subconscious imbalance? It is in this thought that I believe our doppelgängers to be the voice in our head that constantly hinders us, the part of our psyche that binds our bad habits and the fire that fuels our untamed tempers. We live alongside these fabled phantoms and combat their oppressive misfortunes on a daily basis. From mundane problems [such as lack of sleep] to major accidents, we are forced to choose between sanity and white walls because of the jaded shadow embedded in our brains. In death, we hope to finally find our true selves, thus our mind lets us rest by granting sight of that within. This is the true nature of a "doppelgänger."
I'm beginning a new series of photos and these are the preliminary shots.
Let me know what you guys think.