alicia | Vancouver Photographer

“Every man’s work, whether it be literature or music or pictures or anything else, is always a portrait of himself, and the more he tries to conceal himself the more clearly will his character appear in spite of him.”

– Samuel Butler

In my last post, I talked about how a portrait of a person is not just showing what that person looks like, but rather who that person is. This is part of what makes good portraits so compelling. They are windows into that person’s life, stories about them.

The Victorian author, Samuel Butler, shows the other side of this coin. He points out that a persons work, in this case creating images, becomes a portrait of that person. They leave an imprint of themselves on what they do.

So a portrait not only shows you who the subject is, but also who the artist is.

And this is nothing new. I can’t help but to think about how even God created man in his image, leaving His imprint on us. Everyone has a style, which is really the truth of that person seeping out. And it happens whether you like it or not.

That last part reminded of the lyrics in the Thom Yorks song The Eraser.

"The more you try to erase me 
The more, the more 
The more that I appear 
Oh the more, the more 
The more you try the eraser 
The more, the more 
The more that you appear"

I doubt my application is actually what York is talking about, but the point is the same; you can’t run from who you are.

So I wonder… looking at my work, what does it say about me? Who am I?

Little alarms are going off in my subconscious…

When I look at the portraits I’ve done lately I’m actually shocked that so much of myself is revealed in them. Trust me, this is not intentional. But it seems that it is inevitable.

Have you ever thought about this? How is your work a portrait of yourself?

cheers.