What are we really?
The Photographic Medium is a forum designed to promote the production and discussion of photography. The contributors to this dialogue will propose their own topics and contemplate others. This is a composite of its members' talents and a venue for creative output and artistic theory.
9 comments:
i love it, its a beautiful little poem.
deffidently works as a self portrait.
For me it could do without the subtitle. The image really speaks for itself. Something about making yourself a simple, blank canvas. And where should the frame be placed?
i encourage you all to change my mind owever maybe i'm old fashioned but i really think a self portrait should be a picture of yourself. It's ot a trick question.
This one and some others is a conceptual self portrait which is something different from a self portrait maybe i'm taking this blog too seriously? I like the shot but find it to be pompous when presented as your self portrait. Is this how you really feel about yourself? Is this a joke? Are you poking fun at the choice of topic?
I tend to agree with Zach. I know that the beauty of art is to be open to interpretation and to not follow what others have created as "rules" or "guidelines," however, this instance makes me not think of an artist re-interpreting the idea of "self-portrait" as much as one intentionally poking fun at or being too good for a specific assignment. I guess it is just that I have a hard time seeing this as what you project a self-portrait of yourself to look like. I mean, if you are trying to erase the boundaries, then we can go ahead and call anything and everything a self-portrait...This upsets me because in todays world it just seems so forced post-modern. The post-modernist' were striking back against the ideals of modernism, so what are you striking back against...the ideals of a past movement? The tag of self-portrait? Art in general? To me this all seems forced and phony. Just make a picture of yourself...Judging from the images we have received so far there is a vast array of ways to do this.
I like what Zach said, it is not a trick question.
It seems to me that you are highlighting the flaws and in doing so transfiguring the general perception. I can read a lot into this...all good.
I agree that most pictures are more explicit, but this picture is the result of my effort to express my feelings and position in life and part is also my response towards the self portraits others put in the blog. Currently feeling myself in a lot of uncertainty, uprooted, without clear direction, vulnerable, starting something new. Also I try to express my position in this world, humble, understanding whatever we think of ourselves we are just a little speck. Certainly if you see our efforts in relation with mother nature. My travels in the south west of the US, seeing raw nature and the hundred of million year old traces of mother nature made me very humble.
I tried to put this in my self-portrait. I understand for some this image doesn’t do much because they value it on the explicit message. For me this image made complete sense in how I could express as many things that I felt about myself in one image. Everything in the image makes sense to me and are purposely put in there.
For some the images of Kristin are stronger because they are more spelled out but they are also very personal and for some even hard to look at. In my image I tried to make it less personal, more open for interpretation, so others could relate to it in their own way.
The idea that a self-portrait should be with yourself in there is exactly the question I want you think about. Because I hope that my image will also make you think about what exactly is you. What is the essence of you and how can you capture that?
At this point in time I feel very humble and small and in a lot of open space and possibilities, but still defined by a clear border within more space and possibilities. Whatever picture I would like to show about myself at this moment would have been a little spot.
Leo, I think that the beauty of your image is that it isn't, necessarily. Strictly speaking from a visual (looking) perspective. What it says,is. As Jana stated it is a "beautiful little poem". It is concise and speaks volumes. The interesting thing is that I think for some it may reveal more about themselves if they are open to looking (seeing). It truly is a self-portrait.
It is a great self portrait and the question of what we are is not a hoax. The funny thing is how people sometimes allow themselves to momentarily view their conscious perceptions as an ultimate reality.
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