Self-portrait without a face:

A project on representation.

Most portrait shots, whether formally posed in a studio, informally taken in a local environment or stolen candidly, will show the subject's face; that is what we expect from a portrait. I am interested in exploring the notion of a portrait where there is no representation of the person's facial features, or indeed of the person's body at all. Such a portrait must indicate to the viewer the essence of the subject without actually allowing us to see him or her. We must be able to infer the things about the person who is the subject of the photograph - character, age, gender, occupation, physical appearance and so on - without the benefit of seeing any clues to these things.

Here is an example:

click to enlarge

In this photograph, we see several things which give us clues about the subject. If I didn't know this person, what could I infer from this photograph?

Well, the person likes unconventional hosiery - that is the most obvious observation to make. Because of the socks, I have decided that the person is female, probably quite young. I might also decide that, given the fact that the feet are on the table next to a computer and there is an empty coffee cup balanced precariously on top of some academic books and the Sunday papers, the person works from home and is relaxing between bouts of work.

The presence of the computer and the mobile phone in the photograph tells me that these are quite important features in our subject's life, as is the sleeping cat which has pole position on its own cushion slap bang in the middle of the table. (So the person is tolerant of her space being invaded by her animals.)

The desk is very untidy and she is not concerned about the niceties of tidy cables. The software loaded onto the computer is a graphics package, so the person has an artistic streak. It's also quite a sophisticated one, so she must be fairly IT competent. The image on the screen suggests that she has been working on a photograph.

The books are photographic reference ones; is the subject a professional photographer, a student? lecturer?

Looking closely at the photograph on the laptop screen, the biggest clue emerges late in the day as to the identity of the person we are observing. The backdrop of the laptop screen has an image of a person wearing sunglasses, seemingly taken in the rear-view mirror of a car. Is this a self portrait within a self portrait?

Of course, without any primary evidence, only some of these observations can be taken as fact; the rest is mere speculation. The fact is that the person is wearing stripey socks. The fact is that there is a cat, computer, mobile phone and books on the table. The fact is that there is an empty cup which might have contained coffee. That the person is female, young, an animal lover and competent IT-using photographer can only remain to be seen.

Here is another photograph of the stripey-socked subject:

click to enlarge

In this photograph she is pictured in a similar context - surrounded by computers - but this time she is with a colleague and, crucially, we can see their faces. What do we know now that we couldn't have deduced from the first image? Well, she's not young, for a start, but she does seem happy to work in an untidy environment and clearly has no fear of tripping over loose wiring.

We can now describe her features - long blonde hair, long eyelashes, large nose. She is married by the looks of it; (supposition, not fact). She is smiling at her colleague and he seems quietly amused - perhaps some little in-house joke is passing between them? Who took the photograph? A third colleague? What was the occasion - this is not set in a conventional office environment... and anyway didn't we think this woman worked from home...?

Even when we have full view of the subject, then, there is still more inference than fact to be gleaned from a photograph.

But surely any other 'conventional' portrait leaves us with the same uncertainties?

Here is a final look at our subject:

click to enlarge

She is much more smartly dressed in this portrait, but she is still sitting at a laptop, so we must conclude then that this is something to which she is surgically attached, at least psychologically. The working space is much tidier - not a stray cable in sight - is this image set up for the photographer? Arguably, this portrait is less honest than the first two, as it has been carefully contrived. Like our first example, there is also an animal in this image; not a real one this time, but a robotic dog. The dog seems not only to have been allowed onto the desk but is standing proprietarily on the laptop's keyboard. Hmm!

Forward to page 2

Making inferences from photographs is great fun, but fraught with problems. This became the basis of a piece of some small-scale research into how we use photographs to represent ourselves and other people. Click here to read about it.