Self-portraits are a great way to represent yourself in a photograph. When taking a self-portrait, try to be creative; don’t just put yourself in front of the camera and shoot. It can help you portray parts of your personality and identity in a simple manner. Alternatively, you can undertake a project using mannequins. For a period of approximately five years the Year 12 students at Latrobe Secondary College engaged in a self-portraiture project. They used mannequins to represent aspects of themselves. Here are some of the pieces that they produced.
Media Release from 2002
To undergo a similar process:
♥ Buy a plastic moulded store dummy. You can buy male or female models.
♥ Given that armoury was designed to provide as much protection as possible consider what you need to protect, nourish or shield your creative spirit.
♥ Brainstorm and write down some of the things that you could use to ‘dress’ this model to represent what will protect you. Consider what you turn to when you are under siege? Think about the things that sustain you.
♥ Check out and find out what sort of protection other people have developed.
♥ Hang your model where you can see it and look at it often.
♥ Begin to gather the ‘clothing’ and ‘armoury’.
♥ Surround yourself with magazines, materials, glue, scissors, beads, baubles.
♥ Visit recycled shops and gather interesting buttons or buckles, beads and bric a brac. Let your imagination run wild!
♥ Consider all possibilities! HAVE FUN WITH YOUR MANNEQUIN and if family and friends look at you strangely laugh and tell them you need the armoury to protect yourself from their conservatism.
♥ Document the process and record how your ideas about armoury change during this project.
More Self Portraiture Samples and Exercises
A students self-portraiture project
While Waiting For Godot 