Portrait art in terms of biopolitics

Within the framework of this thesis, the reflections of biopolitics in the field of art have been analyzed through the concepts of "persona," "identity," and "portrait," and have tried to be explained through some examples in art history. One of the methods of biopolitics to increase power is to categorize individuals within society and increase social efficiency. The phenomenon of identity, one of the categorization systems, involves documenting the image of the individual in a comprehensible way. The individual is forced to indicate the physical changes in his body throughout his life in his identity photograph. The fact that this photograph is submitted to official institutions has led to a problem of expression control. Since the individual was forced to behave according to the norms while being photographed, he had to control his facial expressions. This thesis examines the social role of identity and the determination of facial expression in identity photographs in the context of biopolitics through watercolor works.