Glass Houses is a series of conceptual self portraits created using distortion mirrors. These portraits explore the fragmentation of the self, or the hidden self which is often underlaid beneath a facade. These fragmentations are the subconscious or conscious fears and desires which cannot be seen through facial expressions or gestures. I chose to portray these feelings through the complete deconstruction and distortion of the physical form.
In the photograph “Disease” for example, I wanted to show the interior world of the subject. The fear of death is seen as a grotesque figure arising from the navel of the bed-ridden character. In “Madame”, a prostitute is shown, but her face and body are disfigured despite the confident and seductive stance of her body. These distortions are meant to allude to the interior world of the subject through in-camera alterations of the body which were captured in the split-second bending of the mirror.
