For Veldon Salim, the knitwear student from Indonesia, his initial inspiration for this project was a departure from the final idea; mannequins were on his mind: ‘I was looking at Jane Munro’s book, Silent Partners. It’s about artist’s mannequins and how artists build connections with them as though they were people…. I’ve been caught up with the idea of building an extension of yourself: which is, essentially, what a self-portrait is.’
For Salim, the self-portrait is an intimate affair. ‘You know when you have something super intimate or precious that you don’t want to show to other people because you’re scared of people judging you? Or it’s too personal to be shared? That’s what our whole project is about.
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‘I think our shoot worked because we left people alone and allowed them to be fully themselves. My favourite photograph is the one of Maya,’ he tells me, pointing to an image of two of his friends disrobed. ‘It’s amazing because I’ve been friends with him for three years and have never seen him be that crazy… it didn’t seem like him at all.’
Rose Canham
Veldon Lim
Rebekah Guo
Fashion Print student Rebekah Guo started with surrealism and all the greats implicit in it: from Breton to Dali and beyond. I’m interested in this abstract way of viewing yourself – fragmented and fantastical,’ she tells me. ‘It’s entirely different to how others see you.
‘The characters that The Greatest Showman is based on were almost outside society. And with time, they realized their own value. I think the first self-portrait shoot that we did helped people show a side to themselves that they wouldn’t normally show other people.’
Gus Langford
Fashion Print student Gus Langford began his research with the self-portraits of the greats: David Attie, Frida Kahlo and Paul Gauguin, to name but a few. For the modern equivalent, he didn’t have to reach far beyond his day to day, saying, ‘I know lots of people whose whole persona is an online persona. I know a girl who is now sponsored by Instagram… And her whole life is Instagram. I think social media presence is more important than people like to admit.’
Our self-portrait shoot was easy for people then, surely? ‘People were effectively taking a selfie – something most of them do every day – but we were putting them out of their comfort zone by placing them in a studio with a professional camera and lighting,’ he reasons. ‘It was so interesting to me how much the environment we were shooting in affected people’s behavior.’
‘Fashion is all about vanity – and how people present themselves,’ says Langford. ‘Social media and fashion are very similar in that sense…. It’s a projection of yourself. Most people’s idea of themselves comes from how they think other people view them. That’s how we relate to The Greatest Showman, it’s about celebrating flaws.’
Rose Canham, a self-effacing knitwear student from The Midlands, started this project thinking about sculpture; the contours and twists of the body, and how clothes fit into such a narrative. ‘I’m fascinated by how sculptors work with shape,’ she says, citing Barbara Hepworth and Ruth Asawa among her favourites.
The self-portrait theme was a departure for her. ‘I never put myself in my work because I think it’s quite self-indulgent,’ she admits. Then reasons: ‘But that isn’t really what this project is about. It’s about other people and how they view themselves…. I think – I hope – our project will have a positive effect on people’s self-image. The photoshoot certainly did.’
Belinda Gredig
Belinda Gredig, the student knitwear designer from West Germany, dealt with the complicated abyss of self-reflection by translating the theme into her techniques: layers of weaving, spinning and knit. ‘I tried to visualise the many layers there are to a person,’ says Gredig.
‘Perceiving, feeling and understanding are intermingled – you cannot do one without the other. I tried to take various techniques and intermingle them to get one overall aesthetic, in the same way so many traits make up a person.’
