The first part of each section presents the practical work, whereas the second part illustrates the theoretical aspect of this project, which stems from a wish to reflect on my own art practice and increase my understanding of self-portraiture, while also interrogating narrative codes and devices in photography, such as the double, mise en abyme, and mirroring structures, and their association with narcissism. The three main sections of the exposition illustrate the chronological development of my work, and each section is divided into two parts. Here I present the practical work that was produced and the theory that influenced my practice: namely, the revaluation of the relationship between self-portraiture and narcissism, and ideas from the semiotics of photography and narrative theory. This approach can help make sense of photography and self-portraiture in the present, and can be employed in the development of visual strategies in photographic self-portraiture. It illustrates a practice-based research project instigated in 2007 that aims to decode and recover narcissism as a useful sense-making scenario or system. This program premiered on Sunday, Jvia Zoom.This exposition deals with narcissism, narrativity, self-portraiture, and photography. Robyn Asleson, Curator of Prints and Drawings at the National Portrait Gallery, highlights some of the ways in which artists have used self-portraits to construct versions of themselves that foreground particular aspects of identity, including life experience, artistic affiliation, nationality, and gender. Long before the social media selfie, artists created self-portraits that converted the inner, private self into an outer, public persona. Public Image/Private Self: Exploring Identity through Self-Portraiture Distributed by the University of Chicago Press. The book was published by the National Portrait Gallery, in association with Hirmer Publishers (2019). “Some artists reveal intimate details of their inner lives through self-portraiture, while others use the genre to obfuscate their private selves or invent alter egos.”įeatured in Eye to I will be self-portraits by prominent figures in the history of portraiture, including Robert Arneson, Alexander Calder, Jasper Johns, Allan Kaprow, Deborah Kass, Elaine de Kooning, Jacob Lawrence, Louise Nevelson, Irving Penn, Robert Rauschenberg, Fritz Scholder, Roger Shimomura, Edward Steichen, and many more.Įye to I: Self-Portraits from the National Portrait Gallery has a richly illustrated companion volume that features an introduction by Brandon Brame Fortune and nearly 150 insightful entries on key self-portraits in the museum's collection. “Individuals featured in Eye to I have approached self-portraiture at various points in history, under unique circumstances, and using different tools, but their representations-especially when seen together-all raise important questions about self-perception and self-reflection,” says Brandon Brame Fortune, chief curator, Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. More recent self-portraits include a video work by Ana Mendieta, and work in a variety of media by Chuck Close, Lois Dodd, Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons and Alison Saar, as well as a large-scale painting by Roger Shimomura, Shimomura Crossing the Delaware. Early works will include self-portraits of Edward Steichen, Alexander Calder, and composer George Gershwin, who was also a painter. Artworks to be included in the exhibition span the art historical timeline from 1901 to today. The exhibition will trace the process through which select artistic practices have transitioned from gazing into the mirror to looking into the camera from painted and drawn surfaces to mechanical reproductions such as prints and photographs from static forms to video. With each self-portrait, artists either reaffirm or rebel against a sense of identity that links the eye to “I.” Drawing from the National Portrait Gallery’s vast collection, Eye to I will examine how artists in the United States have chosen to portray themselves since the beginning of the last century.Įye to I features more than 50 works in a variety of styles and media ranging from caricatures to photographs, from colorful watercolors to dramatic paintings and time-based media. At a time when countless “selfies” are being posted on social media channels and identity is proving to be more and more fluid, the exhibition presents a sampling of how artists have approached the exploration of representation and self-depiction through portraiture.