SEEING MYSELF
THE NEED
How do you process your life experiences?
The Approach
I am an external processor. Whether vocally or artistically, I am working out the things that I believe and the things that I experience, externally.
I am an external processor. Whether vocally or artistically, I am working out the things that I believe and the things that I experience through a variety of forms of external communication. Conversations, drawing, photography, writing, poetry, performance, filmmaking, self-talk, etc.–all have served as a means to understand more about who I am and what I believe.
Self-portraiture has been a core piece of my artistic practice since I found photography & filmmaking. Nearly every major project that I have ever created has included it. I process life, beliefs, storytelling, and justice through my lenses first. Only then can I communicate something broader to the world.
From natural to studio, mixed lighting scenarios to overcasts, storytelling to headshots, the breadth of my self-portrait portfolio exudes my continued dedication to mastering this genre of image making.
Its inception was partly out of necessity due to shyness, but I have come to understand that my self-portraiture has been a medium where I must face myself.
When that unedited and raw preview is sent from camera to LCD screen, the physical insecurities, emotional state of being, energy levels, skill level, and perception are all laid bare. I must see me.
And no one is coming to save you from your fears and your insecurities, your doubts and your worries, your imperfections and your disdain. Loving you may not begin with you, but it must end with you.
In these moments, do you run from yourself or do you embrace yourself? Do you learn to love yourself more fully or sow seeds of self-hatred.
In many ways, self-portraiture has helped me to see more of me and to love and accept me–wherever I am–in whatever state the camera finds me. In whatever state that I find me. I must love me fully–and completely.
It has allowed me to see me the way that I want to be seen, through embodying who I am inside to the full and allowing that vulnerability to illuminate the path for those who might see themselves in those images.
There is more to live, more to create, more to process, more to embody. Onward.
Project Team
Photography: Trevor Wentt