PHOT 709 - Graduate Critique Seminar

ARTIST STATEMENT

“Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.” - Oscar Wilde

Imagine a room where you are in the center and masks are lined against the wall. Each mask represents specific instances and memories that come together to formulate the identity of “The Self,” a combination of the conscious and unconscious. The ID and the Ego are both channeled in this room. A conversation begins to naturally occur within your consciousness recalling of everything past and present from subtle familiarity.

For this series, I’ve paired these mirror masks with portraiture work as they relate to myself in forming my own “Self”. They are refracted pieces of one
another between the mirrors and the portraits. Some masks spoke more than others to me. Others may speak more to you. Some remain silent in pause. The images sparked from the masks will likely be different for you. These masks can represent virtues. They can be sins. They are secrets. They are yours. They are mine. You are the one looking at a mirror after all. I am the one staging it. What do they make you recall?

In building from something shattered, the mirror masks in the end are left to be always broken but forever attempting to find beauty by trying to fixing itself. Perhaps that is me. Perhaps that is you. What do you see? 

These are not mirrors, but I want you to look at yourself in each and every one of these. I want you to see me. I want you to see you. I want you to
remember emotions or be empathetic towards foreign ones. The choice is yours, but together this is a brave new secret between you and I.