Why does an artist/ photographer need to create or take self- portraits?

by

Argyrios Georgiadis BA(Hons) Photography Student

Student number: 500302

Course/Module: Photography 2:Progressing with Digital Photography

Open College of the Arts

September 2015

Why does an artist/ photographer need to create or take self- portraits?

One of the important genres of art is portraiture. The artist depicts a person, where the

face and expression are predominant. Often, these persons are the artists themselves.

More recently as the technology improved, people use small digital cameras or even

their smart phones and take photos of themselves which, in most of the cases, they share

online through social networks.

But how all these started? When did people start taking images of themselves or start

depicting themselves and more important why has somebody done that? Is it a simple act of

taking a photo or it is something deeper? Is it an act of self awareness or a narcissistic act?

The tradition of self depiction

Depiction of the Self is not something new (Cumming, 2009), (Dybisz, 2011),

(Collins), (Fernández). The first self portraits date back to Ancient Egypt and Greece.

Historic evidence shows that Pharaohs carved their faces and bodies in their tombs. Later, in

the middle ages the architects of great cathedrals included their own likeliness in the sculpted

decoration.

Self portraiture though become more popular with the great painters of the

Renaissance from the around the 14th to 17th century. Famous examples of these are

Albrecht Dürer (1471- 1528), Rembrandt (1606- 1669) and Leonardo Da Vinci (1452- 1519).

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Then in more recent years the painters did not aim to accurate depict themselves but more try

to heal or express themselves through paintings. Famous painters of the 19th and 20th

century who produce self-portraits are Gustave Courbet (1819- 1877), Vincent van Gogh

(1853-1590), Edward Munch (1863-1944), Picasso (1881-1973) and Salvador Dali (1904-

1989). The invention of photography gave another tool to the artists to depict themselves.

The first photographic self portraits (Bright, 2010, p.8) date back to around 1800. As

photography required "less skills" than the painting, it came with no surprise that the

photographers/ artists point the camera to themselves. Andy Warhol (1928- 1987) most

famous for his paintings and prints also used photography to an experimental degree in his

self portraiture (Dybisz, 2011, p. 12).

Possibly the most famous artist for her photographic self portraits is Cindy Sherman

(b. 1954) who explored various identities and characters (Dybisz, 2011, p. 12).

Then more recently the invention of digital photography and internet allow larger

numbers of photographers to take self portraits. In most of the cases their audience where

their friends and those who noticed their websites.

Today, cameras are part of the mobile phones. This fact with the low cost of mobile

internet data and the creation of social networks like facebook, twitter and instagram make

the action of taking a photo of oneself and the online sharing of it, part of the daily routine of

some people. These photos are not considered anymore pieces of art. It is important to note

though that still there are contemporary photographers who use good quality DSLR cameras

and produce good quality self- portraits.

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As we can see from this short history of the self portraiture as the time past the art

also followed the technological evolution of other parts of life.

The first self- portraits were sculptures, followed by paintings, photos (from film to

digital) and even videos. It is also interesting that even the terminology used of the depictions

of the self by an artist/ person followed this technological evolution. From calling them

"pictures of likeness of the artist by their hands" (Cumming, 2009, p.84) to portraits of the

self, self- portraits and the recently adopted "selfie" (Oxford Dictionaries Blog, 2013),

(Oxford Dictionaries Online).

The subjects of the self-portraits also change through the time, although the Self is

and was present and an important part. From religious subjects to imaginary worlds and more

recently to simply parts of the body (for example female breasts or bottom). It is also

interesting that in photography we have more female artist compared to painting. Possibly

this is connected with the change of the position of the woman in the society in general in the

most recent years. Also, self- portraiture allowed female artists a certain amount of freedom

from the constraining traditional artistic representations, in which women were so often

muses for men (Bright, 2010, p.15).

Why Self- Depiction?

The main question is why people do so, why they spent hours to create an image of

their own likeness with brushes or paint surrealistic portraits with features of themselves?

And finally, why the photographer choose to be in both sides of the camera when he can

easier take portraits of other people, is there a deeper reason for that? Do the artists cover

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some other needs with that? Do these needs/ motives change over the time as the art itself

evolve?

In order to answer this questions I will try to look in the work and thoughts of some

artists who practise self portraiture, mainly contemporary photographers.

Also, I will try to explore what the psychiatrists say about the "selfies" people take.

Finally, in the conclusion, I will also speak about my own experience, how I used

photography as a therapeutic tool.

Motivations

The Pharaohs possibly portrayed themselves in huge dimensions for the same reasons

they build the huge pyramids as their own tombs, to show their power and glory. Renaissance

painters produce self- portraits, possibly to sell them or to show their skills to potential clients

(Cumming, 2009).

One reason photographers take self portraits is convenience (Dybisz, 2011, p.20).

They have themselves available any time they want to take a portrait. They do not have to

search for models. They do not need to direct others, and they do not have to describe/

express what they have in their mind. Also photographers sometimes "showcase" their skills

to potential clients by posting/ sharing their work to social networks. But for most

photographers who take self- portraits these are not the only reasons. As Cindy Sherman said

(Cumming, 2009, p.257), spending some time when she was moody or depressed, turning

herself to somebody else has a cathartic effect on her. And Sherman is not alone here.

Yulia Gorodinski (Dybisz, 2011, p.130- 137) inspired by her emotions, usually her

melancholy to take her autobiographical self- portraits. This process is pain relieving for her

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and it is her way to let it out. For Joanne Ratkowski (Dybisz, 2011, p.122- 129) taking self

portraits is a kind of "photo-therapy". Being a psychologist, her photographic work is a

influenced by her profession. The self- portraits she take are a documentation of her own

psyche, a visual personal journal, where she often tries to explore themes related to personal

painful overcomings.

Sometimes photographers create an alter ego of themselves, with elements of their

personality in their self-portraits. Rossina Bossio (Dybisz, 2011, p.106-113) acts and plays

roles in front of the camera. She creates her own stage. Those characters are never completely

separate from herself and always linked to her most private emotions and life experiences.

She tries to examine in her work other possible identities of women, she tries to celebrate

body and sexuality because as a child and adolescent she had to denied them (protestant

upbringing, catholic school for girls).

Jon Jacobsen (Dybisz, 2011, p.138- 145), in his self portraits creates a surreal word he

dreams about, and that is a special way to express his personal feeling and experiences.

Taking self portraits make him feel freer than ever, giving him a sense of inner balance. For

him, also the character in the self- portraits is an alter ego, an exaggerated representation, but

one that is build up from fragments of his own personality.

For Charles Latham (Bright, 2010, p.26-27), the alter ego and self are present in the

same image (two photos combined in one image). Initially, after breaking up from a

relationship, he created a series of photos that showed him physically harming himself.

Those alarmed his friends when they were posted online. In order to continue exploring

himself and continue to investigate the feelings and issues he explored in the initial series in

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a more controlled way, he invented Cyrus. Cyrus is an imaginary friend, alter ego and

personal demon, named after his middle name, something he is ashamed of and has been a

long kept secret.

Annette Pehrsson (Dybisz, 2011, p.98- 105) makes self portraits simply because she

wants to capture moments and different stages of her mind. She also included her partner in

her self- portraits and that helped her to feel closer to him. Latoya Ruby Frazier (Bright,

2010, p.30- 33), also improve the relationship and connection with her mother and

grandmother by including them in her self- portraits.

Photographers also took self portraits to document stages or changes in their lives and

document how they change as the time passed. Noah Kalina (Dybisz, 2011, p.114- 121) has

been amazed how much his appearance have changed over the course of few years, after

going through a shoebox with photographs from his early teenage years. That inspired him to

take a photo of himself everyday for the rest of his life.

Malerie Marder (Bright, 2010, p.68- 69) attempted to capture her reaction on the

ongoing physical changes, while she was pregnant by taking one self- portrait for each of the

nine months of the gestation.

Sam Taylor- Wood (Bright, 2010, p.38- 41), made self portraits which act as markers

for events and periods of transition in her life. Few examples, she took one shortly after

graduated from art school and started working as night club manager, one taken after she had

a mastectomy as a result of a second battle with cancer and another one when she moved to a

new studio.

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Anna Fox (Bright, 2010, p.44- 45), took self portraits where she documents herself

progressively becoming more and more drunk. She uses the camera as a therapeutic tool to

document her over-indulgences and to remind herself later not to go to the extremes.

We started from the painters of the past, whose painting were admired mainly by the

visitors of the art galleries or museums or the visitors of the houses of the wealthy people

who are and were able to buy them. Then the contemporary photographers, whose audience

was mainly from their friends and followers in the social network. Finally, today everybody

is able to take a photo of themselves using their smart phone or web camera and post them to

the social networks making them accessible to everybody. Even a new world has been used

for this kind of photo the popular- selfie.

Scientist found that people take selfies for reasons different from those the artists have

done either now or the past. They connected the selfies (Arata, 2015), (Briggs 2014),

(Graham, 2014), (Keating, 2014) to body image issues, narcissism (Singal, 2015), mental

illness, addiction and suicide. In one case, a man diagnosed with body dysmorphic disorder,

became suicidal due to his addiction to taking selfies (The Huffington Post, 2014), (Savastio,

2014).

Conclusion

Self- portraiture is not a simple act of taking a photo of the self, but there is something

deeper on it. In many cases contemporary photographers take self portraits to express

themselves and/ or for therapeutic reasons. This is in agreement with my own photographic

practise.

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In the past, when I was in the early stage of depression or high levels of anxiety (but

with counselling managed to overcome it before become depressed), I also used self

portraiture as a therapeutic tool, and was taking a series of self- portraits wearing masks to

cover my face and possibly re-discover myself. Looking back to it, I think it was also

partially self- humiliation, with the worst example when I put myself in a rubbish bag and

place me by the rubbish bin in the kitchen wearing a white mask. However, when I start

feeling better I start taking series of self-portraits with no masks and not so negative concepts.

Now, I am not so often taking self- portraits but when I do so it is more like a need to picture

myself in that stage of my life, a need to express how I am feeling about that stage of my life.

Most of the people do not think like me or the photographers/ artists for which self-

portraiture is and was a way to express themselves, their thought and feelings. For most

people, a "selfie" is a capturing of a moment, a statement of look to what I am doing, where

and with whom, or a way of acting and sharing some fake moments for your "friends" to feel

jealous of you, but not for the sake of art, just for the Ego part of the self.

References

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Hudson

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http://www.bbc.com/news/health-26952394 [Accessed 26 March 2015]

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