password: medicine
This image was made in a studio and lit with flashlights. I had a friend light it when we were in complete darkness and the camera shutter was open for a long time.
I hung old antique medicine bottles around me that were meant to symbolize the things I reach for outside myself to fill myself up and feel the illusion of whole. ie: drugs, alcohol, food, etc.
The "wings" are parachute material. This was a much more difficult photo to create than any of my other images because I did have to rely on another person and we had to test that flashlight lighting a lot to get it right.
These 2 images were created a month apart.
I used a broken down garage as my space and I wore a vintage slip and had many objects that were either given to me or reminded me of someone in particular.
The image on the left is about hope and my feelings as someone left for a month and all that we discussed happening when he returned.
The image on the right was about the story that occurred within the month and what I learned when he returned ( I wrote it out in blood red ink with a calligraphy pen which was importrant to me.... It didn't really matter if you knew that. I didn't want you to necessarily read what I wrote. it just needed to be in the room..... I used tracing paper to write on...and hung it up around me ), I had the same objects but the plant had died, things were a bit different to express the changes and the loss and sadness. Mourning. I used objects as metaphors - and I also used objects that only meant something to me in reference to him and our conversations. This feels like a time capsule of that specific month and that specific relationship and all the feelings I had during this time.
A fishbowl and dead koi fish. Black backdrop in my dining room. Metaphors about my childhood. A specific memory that is distorted. This one was a bit trickier as I had to find the dead koi fish...
A drawing of a chair in charcoal in a grid on a black backdrop. An umbrella from a thrift store. The first white slip I ever used in my work. a vase of flowers around my neck. A long exposure and some movement.
This was exploring my feelings around identity, celebrating my 9th year of sobriety, and the internal landscape of that time for me.
This was photographed with Color film and I used blue seamless paper in my bedroom for the backdrop, hung large fishhooks from the ceiling.
This image was taken in front of a door that I threw a white sheet over. The crown and polaroid are the objects that help create this alternative space and place. Movement and Long shutter also help create an alternative to this reality. I added a little sepia tone to the image to shift the reality even more.
You're turn.
Today - write a little about what's happening for you today in your life in your emotions. What emotions came up to the surface. What situation is on your mind.
Create an alternative space and create visually what is going on for you internally around today's situation and emotions. If you feel intimidated by this idea - literally take a white sheet and throw it over a doorway, think about clothing that represents something important in your life for some reason. Write the situation or emotions down on a slip of paper and hide it in the photo somewhere. Take a self portrait. See what happens and then see if from that photograph you can come up with another idea or another way of saying the same thing. Use the light from the window to illuminate the scene. Use blur or motion if you wish. Use color to enhance the emotions.
Post your images on IG with #selfportraitureasmedicine and tag me @cjust
xo
*c
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