self portrait reflection

My objective self portrait was more difficult then I expected it to be. When I think of the work objectivity, I generally think of the terms unbiased and truthful. It's hard to present an image as objective when the majority of your audience has no idea who you are, where you came from, or where you are going. I thought about doing a fake online dating ad, something like eHarmony, since it would be funny, and a statement of the facts. But someone who may not know me may not see what I had as objective. My hair is brown, true, but how do they know I don't dye it (I don't by the way). I don't wear glasses, but do I wear contacts? It was very complicated. So I scrapped that idea, and just decided to take a plain, boring, uneventful picture of myself and add a comment or two. During this project I realized that I can never take a decent photo within the first three attempts. In the end I could have chosen a picture of me that looked more like a school portrait, but I ended up going with one of the ones that had me blinking/wincing. The inability to take a good photo within the normal amount of time before people get annoyed is who I am, no sugar coating. The piece ended up looking sloppy though, so I am not too pleased with it.

The subjective self image was so much easier. The fact that no one really knows me in the class makes it interesting too. I chose my first and last school portrait, because not only do they represent the progress I've made in my life, but they aren't objective images of myself. They are staged, which adds a whole new dimension to it. The background is a scene that could either be inside or outside, it depends on the person viewing it. I wanted it to be more like a room, with a view looking out, to where I want to go. In the window is an image of a run down plantation. I want to work with historic preservation after school, so that's what I am running to. There are also images of my art work from the past year. My parents don't really get why I like art and want to pursue it in some fashion. It's been a source of tension recently. The song is the Beatles' "She's Leaving Home". The lyrics tie in with this notion of growing up. I want to get away from where I grew up, not because I hate it, but because I am longing for something more. It's nothing against my family, and they are having a difficult time understanding. I made it look like an actual note because I liked that element of is it a note, what is it. More subjectivity I guess.

From the critique I realized that I am a very subjective person. People choose to represent themselves in certains ways and its totally subjective, even the ways they are portrayed objectively. A conscious choice went into that project, one that we as viewers can't really understand until we talk to the artist himself/herself.