Me, My Self and the Photographic Eye

The Faceless Self Portrait

The second piece in the group, Faceless Self Portrait is about the contemporary Me, as seen through images which record those things which are significant in my life or which could be said to be characteristic of Me, but contain no direct likeness of Me.

It comprises a wire line on which I have strung a selection of Polaroid photographs. I used the medium of Polaroid instant pictures because I wanted to concentrate on the content rather than the technique - I like the immediacy of the Polaroid and the fact that, unlike digital (which is even more instantaneous) the Polaroid image has to be used 'as shot'; there is no manipulation possible and a second attempt costs lots of pennies! I was forced to think quite hard, therefore, about what images I wanted to form my faceless self portrait.

I chose the images carefully to give the viewer as many hints as possible about what the subject (whose face never appears) might be like. The images all have immense meaning for me, but I am aware (indeed hopeful) that anyone looking at the series who does not know me, will form an impression which contains as many inferences as facts. This is an important aspect of the exercise - we all make inferences about what we see in photographs and I wanted that to manifest itself in whatever the viewer concludes about the Me in the piece.

click to enlarge

Okay... so Me likes cats and has a shoe problem. Nobody's perfect.