My Lockdown Mirror Selfie Project.
Lockdown has changed all of our lives in some way. I’m fortunate enough to be working from home so I still have that structure, but the lack of commute and not going out and doing something every weekend has meant there are more free hours to start new projects. At the beginning of May I decided to start drawing again, something I stopped doing years ago when I had a particularly harsh episode of self doubt and my inner critic told me to give up, which I dutifully did. I started practicing with different pens and techniques, sketching photos I had on my phone, then I sketched a picture a friend had sent me of a mirror selfie and it inspired me. I decided to do a drawing project of people taking mirror selfies, with the mobile phone being the item that unites the pictures, so I tweeted a request for submissions for people to be part of the project.
Selfies are a major part of social media nowadays and conceptual meaning is often imposed on the act of taking your own picture. From one point of view they can be seen as narcissistic and attention seeking and from the other, an act of self confidence, mood improvement and social validation. Your intention in posting the picture may not always line up with how it is received. I feel like the mirror selfie adds another level to this conceptualising, a purer narcissism as there is no hiding the fact that you are the one taking the picture and quite often looking at yourself in your phone rather than at the camera. It’s an intimate moment between you and your reflection that you decide to share with the world and it is these moments I wanted to draw. The project is about that voyeuristic circle, the subject looks at themself and takes the picture, I look at the picture and draw the subject, the external viewer is drawn into the intimate circle and looks at the final piece, which is of the subject taking the picture.
I started to receive submissions from people and the stories behind the pictures were as varied as the photos themselves. Some were submitted for a laugh, others based on the pride they had for their bodies or the size of their very generous appendages, others were more emotionally intimate. One submission came from a man who’s medication made all his hair fall out and the reappearance of pubic hair was a major confidence boost. Another had a history of obesity and had never been confident enough to be naked but recent open heart surgery had made him reassess his fears and submit a photo anyway. The main theme across all the pictures and therefore the project as a whole is one of confidence. The subjects either had it or wanted it, and the validation of being drawn helps both.To quote Gok Wan, “It’s all about the confidence.”
The project has also helped me. As well as filling my free time and fulfilling my desire to do something creative, posting the results on Instagram and Twitter has given me confidence to continue when the inner critic gets too loud. The positive feedback on the results has spurred on further development and experimentation which helps me improve my art. The voyeuristic circle then becomes a virtuous circle of validation for everyone involved.
The project is currently ongoing and you can see the results of the project so far here:
