The Projection.

Unpicking the theory of projection to and from the female within imagery.

Summary: Over 2020-2021, An autoethnographic and participatory design process of what projection is and means towards and from the feminine within social media. Then exploring the instability and quick replacement of the pixel on screen, to images that are tangible.

*Disclaimer.
Over 18s only.

A polite notice to inform you that the following content contains nudity and bad language.

In the Summer of 2020 I embarked, organically and unintentionally, upon a series of self portraits. This then expanded onto photocollage into the Spring time of 2021 . What began as a way to keep myself sane, then turned into this collaborative experience. I asked my social media followers and friends for self-portrait suggestions….were these suggestions on how they saw me, or projections of themselves? I do not know…… We are all simply mirroring each other….and within this past year, more so, we have felt the need to connect with other humans.

This then went onto friends and followers’ posting to me their old magazines…and I can honestly say that the collages would not have been made without these beautiful acts of kindness….

I am a feminist. I’m not sure what that means to you, and that’s the point. Our experiences are unique, real and very valid. So with each image I shall not explain what it means to me, but simply caption it, so that you can read how this message or experience means to you. Some may resonate, and some may not….but it does not make the message any less relevant (But to see each photoshoot and photocollages’ in full, with my own meanings and ideas, be sure to go over to “walk a mile in her shoes”).

As a side note….all of these images are captured on a iPhone….yep they are selfies. A professional photographer simply using a phone. And my reason for this is; we never truly see ourselves, and yet we are the most critical. Mirrors distort, the phone camera distorts (yes….your face does not look like that…please do you base your absolute goddess beauty upon a distorted phone camera lens). So I could NEVER photograph myself and show a true depiction, I can only ever show you a projection of myself, and how you see and view these images, your thoughts and opinions are simply your projections. The only reality here with the Selfie is how you feel about it and any comments you have about them.

I then wanted to make the selfie into this real and tangible “thing”, which naturally led me to collage. The feminist collage culture has contributed in questioning and deconstructing the male gaze, using the collage strategies for self fashioning to question the fixate, not only of the image, but of identity. Collage is the disruption of the uniform, of the hierarchy and the formal aspects. It disrupts the status quo of identity. To simply build a collage, for me, was a procrastination. What would I build? How would I build it? And it was simply in the act of building that I realised these pieces are: the sum of my thoughts, my experiences, what I have absorbed and reacted to in my life.

The Selfie is the performance….the collage is a thought.

Feel free to share with me your thoughts, which you can do here at the bottom of this page or join the small community over on Instagram @redshoepersona.

Much Love

Sarah

Beyond the self portrait.

After around 21 self portraits….now what, now where does this adventure of self discovery and reflection go? Now where does the journey of self projection and how others project themselves upon me go?

I am now left which a huge body of work, taking up pixels and space on social media, engaged with….likes hit, comments given. But how to now embody this is to something tangible?

Typical creative style, I have a million ideas….hold on… let me show you!

The Photo Collage Collection.

And from the humble beginnings, here is the full series.

And finally, the images selected for my final year at Chester University Degree show