SELF PORTRAITS

Self Portraits

For this assignment you will create and turn in 2 images that show something about you. If you need a prompt to get going you can use this:

Show us something you wish people knew about you.

A Self Portrait is an image you make of yourself. It is different from a selfie due to the purpose behind it. A self portrait usually has a specific idea that it seeks to communicate to the viewer and is set up and taken by the artist.

You will need to use either a remote or the self timer function on the camera and a tripod. If necessary, an assistant can be use to press the shutter on the camera but all other aspects of the image must be set up by you, the artist.

This assignment will be graded using a rubric. To download the rubric click here.

VIVIAN MAIER

She remained a mystery to the day she died. We know little of the inner world of influential street photographer Vivien Maier and it is only by luck that her work has been discovered and honored in the last few years. Maier’s stark black and white self-portraits, many captured on the streets of Chicago and LA are a fascinating window into this deeply unknown artist.

SASHA O

Sasha O is a specialist in portraiture and regularly shoots self-portraits that are inventive and colourful. Originally from Ukraine and now based in Belgium, she transforms herself in front of the camera with a mixture of flamboyant makeup design and artistic ideas that shine through.

GRAHAM NASH

The musician Graham Nash is known for his brilliance with The Hollies and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, but he has a nice sideline as a photographer. He took many self-portraits over the years while on tour. The one published above is great shot: visually imaginative, he uses mirrors to pull the viewer into his world.

TRISH MORISSEY

As part of her groundbreaking project “Front,” Trish Morissey would approach strangers on the beach and ask to pose with the families, often in their clothes. Sounds strange doesn’t it? Well the results are fascinating and engage with fundamental themes of identity and the self.

BRIAN OLDHAM

Hailing from Southern California, the fine art photographer Brian Oldham has a passion for artistic selfies and much of his output takes on this form. The above image is a strong example of his whimsical style, the butterflies daintily posed on his eyes drawing the onlooker into his surreal world.

CINDY SHERMAN

Cindy Sherman is an American photographer and filmmaker whose self-portraits offer critiques of gender and identity. The use of her own body in roles or personas is a signature characteristic of her work, and her seminal series Untitled Film Stills (1977–1980) garnered early acclaim. These black-and-white images feature Sherman herself in various costumes and poses, and are her portrayals of female stereotypes found in film, television, and advertising. Similar to Barbara Kruger, Sherman examines and distorts femininity as a social construct.

NOELL OSVALD

Visual artist Noell Osvald (previously) creates startlingly bold works through simple gestures all performed in black and white. The self-portraits rarely show the 25-year-old artist’s face, instead expressing emotion through the way she tilts her head or slightly crooks her neck. Emphasizing line, her works incorporate a strict horizon or eliminate it altogether, segmenting the image from left to right. In one particularly powerful image the back of her head faces the camera and her hair is completely down. Her hair is gently separated over her shoulders and her part continues upward from the nape of her neck and meets with the corner of the wall above. She stands directly in the center of this division, making it seem as if her environment is splitting her in two.
The self-taught artist’s works are mostly composites that only allude to being photographs. She explains that she does not pre-visualize any of her works, all are completely spontaneous. “I find post-processing the most enjoyable part of creating,” she told Lines magazine. “I build my pictures up from several different ones, much like a jigsaw puzzle.”