‘Self-Portrait (my surreality)’ (2025)
In my final interdisciplinary project of university, I chose to create a self-portrait inspired by surrealism, automatism, nature, dreams and duality and uncertainty.
Artists like Frida Kahlo, Andre Breton and Valentine Hugo influenced my process and I wrote my own ‘Surrealist Manifesto’ alongside the piece.
The self-portrait consisted of an edited photographic self-portrait surrounded by sprawling automatic freehand drawings that protrude the confines of the frame and are drawn performatively in front of an audience.
The project was staged and performed at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre in May 2025 at the student-led ‘Takeover’ pop-up event.
Self-Portrait (my surreality), explored representing myself in a way that felt truthful based on my own perception of reality. This concept built on the ideas of self-portrait artists like Frida Kahlo, as well as many artists of the Surrealist movement, to depict the multiple views I have of myself tied into one.
Chaos, dreams and nature also played a role in my portrait, as freehand automatic drawings inspired by the surrealist technique of automatism and communing with the subconscious sprawled out from the portrait, continuing from the ends of my hair and branching out in ways that represented turbulent emotions, thoughts and consciousness.
The project was staged in the lift of the Arts Centre, so that visitors had the choice to either step inside the confined space with me whilst I drew, or view the work fleetingly before the doors closed again.