Self-portrait #1

On the work

A self-portrait is supposed to show you someone, but this one holds back the face and keeps only the word. SELF sits in square yellow capitals across flat, deep blue, the only thing on the panel. Each letter is squared off by a steady hand, as if holding on to the word were a way of holding on to the self. A self, it suggests, is a claim rather than a likeness, said loudest where there's the least room to say it. Whose self it is depends entirely on who's standing in front of it, and right now that's you.