SELF-PORTRAITS OF THE CREATIVE WOMXN

I love analog photography. I think it has special magic; it creates expectation and excitement after every shot. My other passion is to illustrate, I like creating colourful scenarios and playing with crazy shapes and compositions. So this is me, Adriana, behind my old Canon and surrounded by some crazy orange tulips, nice to meet you!

@amamartini

Self Portrait is a piece that establishes identity and separation by the means of individuation. This piece is a part of the series To Be Individual, an installation focused on how to repel against our highly conformist and uniform of society.

@driaeitak

As a crochet designer, one thing that excites me beyond just the crocheting, is when the time comes to buy more yarn … I tend to get so carried away and always buy more than I need.

I try not to let myself feel bad about it but rather see it as an encouraging move, giving myself a goal to create more thing with the amount I buy. As a sign that I believe in my creativity and skills. That one day all that yarn will be gone and out of it beautiful things for people. And then of course that time will come again to go crazy and buy more yarn!

These portraits were taken after my biggest shop yet and I’m so excited to share my pieces with you guys once all completed.

@abzie0 @bambicita

I grew up in a house full of women, and sometimes I felt this wrecked havoc. In this spoken word, I come to terms with the unconditional love and grace that women have shown me, on days I was at my worst and on days I had no hope of a future. I’ve been reminded to put my chin up. I also want to be a person that empowers not only women, but men too as I deeply understand that this society is making it incredibly harder to be considered a ’good man’ and sadly I’ve found myself participating in it. This is ’MOTHER!’ - I fall in love again with the intricacies of life and her soft brutality.

@lwandlelembede

This piece is an analogue collage of my face. I only use found materials and I used several photos of my face to create this image. The concept around this piece centres around how change happens slowly over time, with subtle consistencies that maintain my personal sense of self.

@rooshmulan

You can consider these little guys version of me -- the one that makes me, the one that breaks me and the one that's just along for the ride.

My association with voodoo dolls comes from their gritty make-up, the raggedy roots, the clumsy creator. Crafted with ideas of love and vengeance, when complex emotions are the building blocks of your life, you're a fighter if you can still have a goofy smile sewn across your face.

None of this has anything to do with having a healthy obsession with the darker arts.

@tiafafloof_

This is an old self portrait from several years back, when I was first experimenting with coloured pencils and reconnecting with my creative pursuits after a very long hiatus. During this time, I was heavily into using my practice as a way to better understand my relationship with my own body, and my subject matter was centred mainly around the naked form. Like many of us, my relationship with my body is fraught with insecurities and is also further complicated by a history of sexual trauma.

Through art, I was gifted the opportunity to reconnect with and step back into my own body. Although I have come a long way since this drawing in terms of my skills, I still feel fondly towards it and love it for its purity of expression and the time in my life that it is representative of. At its root, it’s a celebration of being in my own body, and meeting myself exactly where I am.

@annamargaritaveitch

This piece is inspired by nature - at the time I was working on a Nature theme where I analysed our relationship and how we intertwine with it. As such, I worked on a self portrait merging myself with a tree surrounded by a dreamlike ambient that remembers a half asleep half awake state.

@marialouceiro

I selected 3 self portraits which represent me in 3 different ways but all make up my identity as a whole.

I often get assumptions from people about my sexuality, origins and overall identity based on the way that I dress or style my hair and this has taught me that people often judge and put labels on others, especially womxn, based on stereotypes without even asking first.

As a womxn, I’m strong, independent, masculine AND feminine, emotional and caring no matter how I dress and I am proud.

@kxbal_photography

@_kxbal

I didn't really plan to take self-portraits evoking a specific theme, however during the pandemic I lived by myself and experienced acute loneliness which led me to taking these images. They portray the experience of finding solace within yourself, and embracing the difficulty of finding comfort within the confines of four walls - and on a greater level, within oneself.

@samidunn_ @sellamasam

This self-portrait is an intimate interaction and re-discovery of myself.

This year has been a long journey of uncertainty, fear, doubt, and uneasiness for me, however these have allowed my to find true liberation and freedom.As cliché as it sounds It has been about figuring out where I stand in this fanatical world as a bicultural privileged woman, and most importantly how to weave together my two identities and innovativley articulate these two elements into a new way of seeing and experiencing the world to encourage other females to participate in this journey of self- censorship.

This series is part of the visual language of a short film I have recently published, encouraging Egyptian women to unite with one another, in order to have honest and personal conversations about their intimate lives. Little do the viewers know that the woman undressing behind the shadows was me exploring my body, its textures and feels. This intimate interaction with myself was rediscovering myself whilst eliminating the taboos but embracing boundaries of my heritage and upbringing- encouraging other women who may be suppressed to learn to be vulnerable, honest with themselves and to create a female safe-space.

@aminaseoud @aminassart