Swara Rajesh

I wanted to approach the idea of self portraits from a more visceral perspective. I decided to establish a few themes to thus work with. I identified ego, mind, memory and space as I find them to be core aspects of myself, things that occupy my mind and the best reflection of my sense of self. I researched the works of Mariko Mori, Liu Bolin and Jessica Rankin to explore these themes with respect to self-portraiture. I ultimately focused energies on one of these themes – space – while tapping into the other concepts to elaborate on it. I wanted to explore my sensitivity to space and how I derive my sense of self from the spaces I exist in and form attachment with them. The objects I chose to cast too, thus had a bearing on the idea of spaces – tchotchkes with nostalgic qualities such as shells. I tea-stained the frame to expand on the idea of nostalgia. I chose to work with tool to elaborate on the sentimentality of these spaces and to create illusory 3D space as well.