Alejandra Carles-Tolra

Artist, Educator, Facilitator
     
Fall In
Public Project
Fall In
Copyright Alejandra Carles-Tolra 2024
Date of Work Dec 1969 - Dec 1969
Updated Sep 2018
Location Boston, MA
Topics Army, Combat, Community, Education, Emotion, Fine Art, identity, Landscape, military, Portraiture, ROTC, soldiers, U.S.

These photographs portray a group of college students seeking to explore and define their emerging identities while choosing an unusual path: enrolling in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC). When joining, they are taught a set of values and expectations that adhere to a group philosophy. As they struggle to define their own identities, they are also presented with a well-established role to play. Like actors who perform according to a script and can transform their personalities on stage, these cadets are learning a military script that will not only teach them how to perform in the field but require them to adopt a new persona as their own.

I began to photograph cadets of different ages, from a range of universities in Boston, during their physical and mental training to become leaders in the U.S. Army. I am most drawn to depicting how individual identity and military persona coexist. Resonating within these images is this confluence of agendas, at times subtle and at other times quite apparent. In my work, I explore the cadets’ success in adopting their roles, and look at the differences between freshmen and seniors, men and women, and those who plan to become active and reserve officers. The portraits depict the nebulous threshold between the individual personality and identity within the group.

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Essays and interviews
CNN
Study and serve: The dual identity of the ROTC
By Larry Frum

Strange Fire Collective
By Rafael Soldi
18,618

Also by Alejandra Carles-Tolra —

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Where We Belong Book

Alejandra Carles-Tolra
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participatory workshops

Alejandra Carles-Tolra
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A 2021 Playlet

Alejandra Carles-Tolra
Project

The light coming in

Alejandra Carles-Tolra
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The Light Coming In

Alejandra Carles-Tolra
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Where We Belong

Alejandra Carles-Tolra
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Saving Face

Alejandra Carles-Tolra / Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
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The Bears

Alejandra Carles-Tolra / Providence, Rhode Island
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A Place Like Home

Alejandra Carles-Tolra / MISSION HILL, BOSTON, MA
Fall In by Alejandra Carles-Tolra
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