MIRRORFACE

The distance between how others view us, how we view ourselves, what we think we project to show how we perceive ourselves to be and what we actually project is vast. Something we often do, when we are alone, before leaving our home, or a dressing space, is to check our image one last time. This is where our Mirrorface appears, the facial expression we give ourselves that says we’re ‘ready.’ Mirrorface is different from what we project for portraits we know, or think, might be seen (such as selfies). In each of the final Mirrorface diptychs there are two portraits: straight-on (image left) and their Mirrorface (image right).

Other than being informed it would be an interactive portrait session questioning themes of ego and self, collaborators did not have any details prior to entering the studio. During our individual sessions, after capturing the straight-on portrait, I set up for the Mirroface portrait. I gave the collaborator a small, hand-generated sound tool and uncovered a mirror I had placed on the tripod directly under the camera, at an angle they could see themselves from the same place in front of the camera. I left the studio and sat in an adjacent room with an extended camera release and no external viewpoint. Using the mirror to privately view their reflected image, when the collaborator had found their private Mirroface, they used the sound device to signal for me to click the shutter. They were asked to get comfortable in the space, as though they were “getting ready to go out.” The capturing was completed once the subject felt they had truly given their sincere Mirrorface, without them viewing the digital image captured.