The self portrait is the realisation of our non-knowing. Once we have constructed a version of ourself we offer it to the camera. This is the moment we remember the only certainty about our being is death.

Up until that moment of ‘taking’ the photograph we search for ways to communicate a self- or an identity. In the second the image is taken, one moment of uneasiness occurs before we take control again, ‘deleting’ choosing what to share and how to hone it to the best representation of our projection.

to experience this contradiction between ‘knowledge and non-knowledge’; ‘to be seen and unseen’; 'exposure and conceal’ is to fall into a moment of crisis that is resolved only by giving ones self to the camera.

We live in an environment of appropriation where  ideas, identities, experiences and expressions are ’washed’ by capitalist and neo-liberal bodies; sold back to us through idealised images and promises of authenticity. The process ostracises and alienates us from our own values.

SPSS is about exploring the self portrait as a portrayal of a self-narrative. It poses the question of how to create an alternative history of lived-experience. A history which expresses its self through mediums of art, reflection and discussion.

The series started as a self-curation of works of different mediums; word, self portrait photography, poster design, performance and video. Coming together in the form of a book and self-curated exhibition.

The idea was to explore the definition of the self portrait, how it can be re appropriated alongside and within a selfie-saturated environment.

Urban Dictionary:

sync

to be in a same state of mind or thinking

Psych

To retract your previous statement, in an attempt to fool the person you’re talking/chatting to.

self

The field of psychology attempts to define it with circular definitions. The truth is, we don’t really know how to define self... not objectively at least.
In a few words, self is consciousness. Consciousness escapes objective description (poor example: your experience of the colour red, is it the same as mine?). If a definition requires an objective description, then self is un-definable.

(sic)

(Latin for “thus”) is a bracketed expression used to indicate that an unusual spelling, phrase, or any other preceding quoted material is intended to be read or printed exactly as shown (rather than being an error) and should not be corrected. When found in a French document, (sic) stands for “Sans Intention Comique” (without comic intention) meaning that even if the preceding text could be understood as funny, it was not meant to be. It is used by writers quoting someone to alert the reader to the fact that an error or other weirdness in the quoted material is in the original, and not an error of transcription. “Sic” is almost always enclosed in parentheses.

Oxford Dictionary.com:
sync

= Synchronization.
The operation or activity of two or more things at the same time or rate.

psych

1) short for psychiatric
2)(as adjective psyched) Mentally prepare (someone) for a testing task or occasion.

self

A person’s essential being that distinguishes them from others, especially considered as the object of introspection or reflexive action.

(sic)

Used in brackets after a copied or quoted word that appears odd or erroneous; to show that the word is quoted exactly as it stands in the original
= Latin, literally ‘so, thus’.