Me, Myself & Eye

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Me, Myself & Eye (Self Portraits)
What is a self portrait? How much actual control can a person, especially a child, have over their own image? And where it travels? Especially in the times we inhabit now. When I look back at these two images of myself at 3 and 4 years of age, what I see is a person who is in charge of how they are being seen and photographed. The style of these both reflect the ways in which I continue to express myself, in ruffled shirts and big crazy glasses. Here are some examples of myself as a child and adult where I am constructing my own image and seeing seen both as I see myself and as I want/ed to be seen.  

There are almost no surviving photographs of myself as a teen-ager. Every photograph was evidence to me that I was somehow monstrous. While adolescence is hard for most people it was especially difficult when you had a body that was not behaving as a body that was assigned female at birth should! It wasn't until I discoverd queer community in San Francisco, New York and London in the early 80s that I was able to accept and explore what living with a non-conforming body could mean. Especially for a photographer who uses their life and body as a primary source of material inspiration.