SELF: An ongoing series of daily Self Portraits
A Solo Exhibiton of Daily Self Portraits drawn through the leap year of the global pandemic hung at El Barrio's Artspace PS 109 in East Harlem from September 7 through October 8, 2022. More than 550 drawings, paintings and prints hung in the show. Upcoming - a documentay film about SELF: 2020 hindsight | 366 portraits by Fran Beallor
Click on the photos below to see more self portraits from each series:
SELF: A Self Portrait a Day over Time
Even from my earliest days of learning to draw I love the challenge of self-portraits. Each one comes out differently: what do I actually look like in a given moment? I'm constantly surprised by who I see in the mirror. A stranger, a man, a little girl. The fluidity of what I look like is compelling, and fascinating, and weird. I am forever seeking the person who is looking back at me.
"Sometimes it’s hard to face myself in the mirror.
Yet as the work progresses, I become involved,
engrossed, occasionally even enlightened ... "
Created over four decades, these series of Self Portraits have become an unexpected lifetime journey, and an exploration of body image and aging, of maturing and growth. Looking at myself every day is not always easy, but I do find my face more complex and interesting as the years pass. As I learn the vocabulary of my own features and forms, I bear witness to the changes of time, and through that, a broader experience of being human.