Questioning the Self-PortRait

Written by: Sawyer Sariñana

For the last couple weeks in my Esta Soy Yo class, we’ve been assigned to take self-portraits with varying degrees of specificity. The first assignment started with self-portraits as a general term then leaned into the abstract by focusing on physical objects that document our sense of self. In documenting oneself, especially with the intrusiveness of a camera, the photographer negotiates with the camera to produce a result that fits their idealized (or romanticized) perception of what they should look like. As someone who feels some hesitation to setting up a tripod, mounting a camera, hitting the self-timer, and posing myself, I’ve questioned the ways in which I can alleviate the discomfort. I’ve looked at artists that alter my perception of a self-portrait through their conscious rejection of modernist photography characteristics.

LEE FRIEDLANDER

Born in Aberdeen, WA 1934, Friedlander focuses on the “social landscape” of America by documenting his presence in non-extraordinary spaces. With a dead, but not confrontational, stare his self-portraits fail to romanticize himself or his surroundings. The exposure of his body is never explicitly suggestive or glorified: he shows himself in unflattering angles and compromising positions making his photos a subtle rejection of accepted beauty standards.

Friedlander transcends ego through the submission of himself to his surroundings. He consistently acknowledges his own presence but leaves no tangible impression upon any of the scenes.

This proto-selfie taken by Friedlander in 1966 is possibly my favorite photo ever! On first look, the most striking quality of the photo is the mountainous lines formed by the extension of his arms and affected collarbone. The hills of his neckline are segmented by his ovaloid chin, creating an organic symmetry in the frame. His eyes look down to avoid the bright flash, as if to avoid confrontation from the force that has already morphed his body into an organic creature. Photos like these that are personal but not intimate, exposing but not sensuous, and intrusive but not aggressive, completely alter my feelings toward self-portraits. Images that have the intention of capturing the

photographers likeness don’t have to be overtly revealing or stylized to be impactful. They don’t have to make radical statements about identity or push the definition of a photo itself. Self-portraits can revel in self-gratification or in the case of Friedlander, be vessels for processes of the mundane! Time to do homework for class now…..