“You don’t make a photograph just with a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved” -Ansel Adams.

 The best way to create meaningful and honest work is to use our own vulnerability and let it be a guiding light and inspiration. Self-portraiture is an exploration of oneself, it digs deep into our past and present and often helps us to discover who we really are. It is not an easy process, neither technically nor emotionally, but the creation of such work is usually strong and speaks loudly because it comes from a powerful place, the heart.

 If a photograph says more about the photographer than the subject itself, then every image taken is a self-portrait. But an actual self-portrait is not just a revelation of who the artist is, the image strips the artist down to the bone, making him feel naked to the eyes of the public, exposing him and leaving him more vulnerable than ever.

 As a child of a diplomat, I travelled and moved from one country to the next every four years since I was born.  I have always been torn between what was and what will be and no matter how many years go by, it never gets better.

 Through photography, I used self-portraiture in an attempt to express the feeling of loneliness and sadness that comes with constantly uprooting oneself, the sense of not belonging or wanting to belong to a world that is not yours, and, more importantly, to illustrate the importance of relationships that are often the pillar in our life.  

 Then came the pandemic. 2020 was a year marked by much heartache and insecurity.  It was a year of global threat and instability. But to me the most interesting element of the Covid-19 pandemic was the sudden discovery of time. Time stood still for those who were lucky enough to be healthy but not for those who were fighting for their lives. Time gave us the opportunity to reevaluate our past and our present, rethink our values and our priorities.  It gave me the chance to turn the camera onto myself and create images that I hope translate into meaningful messages for many viewers who in turn identify with them.

Frida Kahlo once said, “I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the person I know best”.