A Deep Dive into the Human Psyche: An Editorial Journey through Influential Psychological Studies by Willy Villacorta

Photographer Willy Villacorta @willyvillacorta and creative director Alba Ocanya @albaocanya present “Agape”, an exclusive editorial featuring model Misha Dubiaha @mishadubiaha at Generation Models @generation.models.

The editorial invites us to introspect and discover the fascinating psychology of the human being, both as an individual as well as the impact it has on the psyche when interacting in a group.

As background, the editorial was inspired by three well-known scientific studies in the field of psychology. These studies assessed the personality and reaction of the participants to certain situations, some of them extreme. The studies that served as inspiration for the editorial were:

• Robber’s Cave: conflict between groups occurs when two groups are in competition for limited resources.
• Asch’s Influence: a series of studies designed to investigate how social pressure from a majority group could influence an individual to conform.  and ;
• Stanford Prison: a two-week simulation of a prison environment that examined the effects of situational variables on participants’ reactions and behaviors.

agape (əˈgeɪp):

• with or as with the mouth wide open, in surprise, wonder
• unselfish love of one person for another without sexual implications; brotherly love.

The images of the editorial were inspired by the situations experienced and the emotions felt by the students who were victims of these experiments, who could have felt fear, anguish and suffered sequelae; having to find themselves once the tests are over. This reunion with himself is what the looks express; with minimalist garments that hardly cover the person, that reveal the skin, the almost naked body, without layers that hide the true personality, which they have not been able to show in the experiments because they have been manipulated.

That nudity that these looks express is what will allow the participants to start from scratch, get ahead and overcome everything they have been through.

The images of the looks also express the inner self, the attempt of the volunteers in the experiments to connect with the rest of the world, in the same way that in some of their works they paint a hand, to get in touch with other people, to relate to and feel that you are part of something, of some group. This work, for example, called “take my hand”, expresses that he does not want to be alone.

Willy Villacorta, Photographer.

To represent the internal chaos of the psyche, the preferred location for the story was Casa Bruta, which with its shades of furniture and carpets in light and neutral colors, as well as the position of some furniture on the ceiling manages to express the chaos that the participants in the experiments have lived and suffered, but that they want to overcome, grabbing it to put it back in place and find the security that order and that everything is in its place.

Exclusive for Vanity Teen!

AGAPE