Possible Illustrated Self

text and mixed media illustration series. an exploration of self-perception and self-promotion based around my own self-mythology and story-telling. distributed through flyering, mail shots, online and gallery display [as part of the Pixel Shake Digital Arts TVU degree show 2007]

This self-portrait series is part of a dialogue between personal narrative, self-promotion and self-perception that has run through much of my work. Story telling and expanding narrative structures have long captivated me, particularly in how these external narratives relate to our own individual lives. My penchant for story telling has long had me view my life as one strand within a ‘self-mythology’ reaching out from myself to the larger universe via family, literature and history. This mythology helps me process and take joy in my daily life and cope with overwhelming events. I particular it has kept me going through less happy periods in my life. These issues are expanded upon in the work’s accompanying article, My Self Portraits and I. These images are indirect self-portraits, envisioning possible incarnations within my own self-mythology.
The project was distributed as an exploration of the advertised self. In an age of blogging, ‘Web 2.0' and social networking, individuals are exporting themselves into the cultural sphere like never before. What interests me is how this is done in public spaces - city streets, transport networks and parks; places that we inhabit as much as our own dwellings. This work is made available online, via mailings, flyering and postering as my exploration of what it means to ‘put myself out there’ and explore the reality of these forms of self-promotion.