Wednesday 30 March 2011

Showing some of my "self-portraits in mirrors" in Nottingham ...



"We don’t exist without others. Our sense of Identity comes from the confrontation with other's perceptions of us. What we understand of our secular image is partially made of glimpses of what we can see of us in the eyes of others. It can be intrusive, disturbing, it can be reassuring, comforting. We are caught in the others’ eyes; we don’t belong to ourselves.



Those self-portraits in mirror are attempts to recover an illusive power over my own image. Both the mirror and the screen of the camera allow me to compose a pose and choose a frame and background. In doing so, I regain control over what I think the other will see, turning myself into an active subject. Showing the process of the making comes as a double affirmation of this position.


These self-portraits have been taken over the past 7 years. They are spontaneous and quickly taken but carefully constructed. Offering a view onto my inner life by showing moods, atmospheres and personal everyday surroundings, they are similar to diary entries, attempts to understand something of my own complex identity. We are constantly changing and evolving, made of multiple selves."

Tuesday 15 March 2011

Susie Orbach - Therapist Susie Orbach on body image

Susie Orbach: 'The whole notion of perfection is a troubling aspect of our society'
Therapist Susie Orbach on body image, the commercialisation of happiness and her 'Endangered Species' campaign.



Monday 14 March 2011

Beth Lazroe - In our faces

"IN OUR FACES : Visual Assault is the only term that can describe the experience of viewing the degrading images of women, shown as objectys of sexual use and fantasy, that daily bombard the residents of Prague and other Czech cities."

Text and images from Beth Lazroe's website (best to be seen in her website).









Self-portraits using laptop

I've started using the laptop for self-portraits this winter (see here, here and here). I was interested in pushing its physical limits(you have to be able to reach the mouse and fit in the frame at the time).
Now I have kept this practice for everyday self-portraiture. I'm very interested in the rendering of the light and colours and the fact that the quality is limited too, which means that the end format has to be very small and so more intimate.

01.2011
12.2010
12.2010
03.2011
03.2011

Sunday 13 March 2011

Thursday 10 March 2011

Mehraneh Atashi : "Tehran Self-portraits - 2008"

Show in Quad, Derby, UK - March/April 2011

Tehran’s Self-Portraits explores her experiences of living in a city that is changing quickly. Over the last 30 years Tehran’s population has grown from 5 to 15 million. In the process of expanding and being rebuilt, its cultural identity is shifting. In response, Atashi has tried to enable the city to make a portrait of itself in flux. To do this she tried to look through her Holga camera as if she was a statue, part of the fabric of the city.

I am looking forward to visiting her show in Derby but in the meantime I have found those images in  her Artreview page. For more realted to Mehraneh Atashi in my blog, click here.