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Self-portrait
7 images, C-type print, Size 30"x40"

I was inspired by Jan van Eyck's painting 'The Arnolfini Portrait', suggesting in the mirror that the painter himself existed in front of the couple. My subjects' eyes play the role of a mirror, having my reflection as a photographer there.This idea is also based on the thought of Jacques Lacan's 'The mirror stage' and D. W. Winnicott's book Playing and Reality. Winnicott said the following.

What does the baby sees when he or she looks at the mother's face? I am suggesting that, ordinarily, what the baby sees is himself or herself. In other words the mother is looking at the baby and what she looks like is related to what she sees there.

This portrait elicits gazes, if the subject's line of vision is directed toward the camera. The photographer is looking at the subject through the camera. And the subject is looking at the photographer through the camera. The relationship between the photographer and the subject is revealed in the subject's eyes. What the subject looks at and looks like is related to what the subject sees there. They are reflecting each other.

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© 2024 by  Kazuko Takahashi

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