Sweet Red

When the world shut down for the pandemic, and I was unable to shoot live models in my studio, I placed announcements on various Internet sites, inviting strangers to send me selfies, which I would digitally manipulate into finished artwork. The entire process was a creative collaboration in which I am able to make art from the view of the subject’s own lens. They send me photos showing how they see themselves or want others to see them. Sometimes they write me about themselves and why they’re reaching out. Other times I know nothing about them except that they would reach out to send a stranger a selfie with only the promise of getting back "something interesting." Over the course of this quarantine selfie project, I became fascinated by creating portraits from the subjects’ self-portraits, blurring the lines between creator and creation, between artist and model, and between reality and fantasy. This woman reached out to me on Facebook asking to have her selfie made into art. I was happy to oblige.

Photo on German etching paper in black modern float frame