In my Women, Art, and Society class, we discussed the idea of the "monstrous" in self-portraiture, or what it means when an artist depicts themselves in a grotesque or disturbing manner.
Catherine Opie's self portraits especially stood out to me, considering that I used to paint pretty gory self portraits when I was younger, and is always something I've been particularly drawn to. I don't know what exactly it is, but self depiction through horror/gore or overall "unsettling" means always resonated with me. Perhaps it had something to do with my anxiety/depression growing up, feeling overcome by the "monsters" of my internal conflicts. Even now, my monster/horror art is what I end up loving the most - I find myself longing to go back to it after months and months of tinkering with glitch art/distortion. I dunno, my work doesn't feel "all there" to me without it.
Anyway, here are my personal favorites:
Self Portrait/Cutting
Self Portrait/Pervert:
I find especially the cutting aspect of this interesting. I get conflicted about this type of stuff because I believe habitual cutting is a pretty unhealthy as expression of pain. And especially in the second picture, it seems very decorative. Although, clearly a lot of thought went into it, so it becomes more of an artistic expression. It conflicts me because when thinking of it as a tattoo it becomes completely acceptable in my mind as a form of expression, but I wonder where the line is. It also makes me question if she is saying that this is how she harnessed her pain? Because that gives off a message to me that there is no point in discouraging expressions of emotion in self-harm. I prefer your expression through glitching much better. I think it manages the same self expression without the destructive promoting possible destructive tendencies.
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