So back in June of 2018, I decided I was going to revisit a project that I did back when I was at university. It was a classic university/college project and the first project of my second year, way back in 2003 (that’s a long time ago!). The self-portrait!

Most of my fellow students went away and played with mirrors and motion blurs (I remember a lot of motion blur portraits - ‘the blurred lines between the real you and you that you show…’ etc haha). I, on the other hand, didn’t want to get in front of the camera myself so I decided to take polaroids of my friends and then ask them to describe me in one word. A self-portrait through the words of my friends. The lecturers loved the idea despite there being no real technical skill behind it haha.

Jump forward to 2018 and a deep conversation with my sister about the idea of self and understanding it a little more. My sister is a counsellor so she knows quite a lot about the subject and she told me about something called the ‘Johari Window’. A quick Google and you’ll be able to find out more about what this is but put simply it’s an exercise used to help people better understand their relationships with themselves and others.

The exercise works by subjects selecting adjectives from a list that they feel describe them best. Your peers or others in a group then select words from the same list that they feel describe you. The adjectives are then inserted into the Johari Window. The adjectives in the first window are the parts of ourselves that we and others see. The second window contains aspects that others see but we don’t see about ourselves. The third window shows the things we know about ourselves but hide from others. The final window is the unconscious part of us that neither ourselves nor others see. With me still?

It sounds complicated but it’s a simple and really interesting exercise I promise. Anyway, all of this got me thinking about my self-portrait project from university and re-exploring the idea of how I see myself and how others see me so many years on from the first project.

That was a bloody long-winded way of saying this is a new version of an old self-portrait project but hey, I thought you needed the back story why I wanted to revisit the project haha!

So that’s what I’ve done and I’m still doing with ‘Critical Impressions’. This time though, instead of Polaroid, it’s a quick snapshot on my iPhone, some A4 paper and a black marker pen. I’ve asked 107 people so far and still counting! Some of them I know really well, all my life in some cases and then there are some of them who might be people I’ve met for the first time that day. There are people I know through work as well as life long friendships. It’s a varied mix of people for sure.

I dip in and out of this project and I haven’t done anything on it for a while. Sometimes I’m not always armed with paper and the pen and sometimes I’m just not thinking about the project at the time but it’s something that I like to think will be ongoing and that I can keep adding to. I’ve had some time on my hands recently so I thought I would finally do something with all the images that I’ve collected so far and turned it into a blog post.

Click on the image to check out some of the words used to describe me. I’ve also posted the project as a highlighted Instagram story that way I can be adding to it every time I do a new shot as a continually evolving self-portrait. Check it out there too…

Thinking about it a little more it’s something that I can open up to you lovely lot if you haven’t taken part yet. Especially right now when we all have a little more time on our hands for creativity and to reflect on things! Perhaps I don’t have to be the person taking the images (with social distancing I have no idea when I might be able to take my next portrait) and that can be your job. The formula is pretty simple after all… An iPhone pic (other phones are available) some A4 white paper and a black marker pen and you can be part of the project as well! A proper collaboration! What do you think?

If you know me, have met me, we’ve spoken, worked together whatever that might be I’d love to hear from you. I’ve probably just opened up a whole can of worms for myself, haha as generally, people are quite nice when I’m stood in front of them asking for the word. It’ll be interesting to see how those words change with me not there! Perhaps there will be some much more telling responses and in some ways more honest, we shall have to wait and see.

If you do want to take part all I ask is that you take the image as a portrait (i.e the phone positioned vertically) in the same format as the above portraits and also that you don’t put any filters over the images. No crazy dog ears or Snapchat filter nonsense! I won’t use any images with crazy filters on I’m afraid. You can reach out in an email or via social media DMs with your picture of you holding your word that you think describes me. I’m looking forward to hearing from you and seeing how you describe me. New challenge! Go from 107 to 200 Critical Impressions with your help! Can we do it? Be sure to follow me on Instagram to keep up to date with the project.

Until next week team! Stay creative!