In this digital age, you can change your identity depending on your chosen portal. On Facebook you can use your real name, while on Twitter you may use something far more sassy and anonymous. Your virtual identity is a malleable configuration of 1s and 0s depending on your audience, mood or platform. Expressing one’s identity through external agents is as old as jewelry, but never seems to lose its luster. Vanity plates are a form of identity expression that started soon after the birth of the automobile at the turn of the 19th century. Vanity plates are a signifier of how you’ve chosen to identify yourself, one that is intricately entwined with your non-digital life. They are far more unchangeable and limited in the scope of their messaging about one's identity than the array of virtual options.Yet, it is this very limitation of license plate messaging that contributes far more meaning about one’s identity than a plethora of status updates on social media. Imagine a social media platform that only allowed a single status update and it takes a trip to the DMV to change it. In this way, vanity plates demonstrate a resounding status marker due to the cumbersome process of changing that message. This Tumblr is a collection of vanity plates from the DC metro area and other various road excursions. We made it a hobby to spot plates and try to capture their image as they moved in space or were conveniently parked only to fall prey to our lens. For we made only one rule: we wouldn’t get into an accident on our quest to conquer particularly rare license species. They span the vast quantity of human characteristics: from bragging, to niche references to messages of peace and harmony. No two (in a given jurisdiction) can be the same. Enjoy this collection that reflects the myriad of representations of the human identity. Love,TejMahel
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