Exhibition Review: Self Portraiture ICP

For my exhibition review, I decided to go to the ICP to check out their 'Self Portraiture' exhibit. Where there were photographs from Sheng QI, Samuel Fosso, Yasuma Morimura, Cindy Sherman, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Tomoko Sawada, and Annegret Soltau. This exhibit was very straight forward, no bells or whistles; the photographs were all displayed very neatly with in-depth descriptions of each artist and background information. It's so interesting how every piece in this exhibit is so unique, never in a million years would I think to do some of these 'artistic choices'. 

Memories (Me), 2000 Sheng Qi.
This is probably my favorite out of all of the portraits in this exhibition, Sheng at the age of 24 decided to leave Beijing due to the political climate it was under, the artist decided to leave the country but wanted to leave a part of himself behind; he chopped off the little finger of his left hand and buried it in a flowerpot in Beijing. The red in this large scale portrait represents the Communism in China, his hand cups a photograph of a person integral to his identity and his past.  A small black and white photograph of himself as a smiling child, before his life/body, was forever altered by the Tiananmen Square massacre.

Self Portrait, 1977 Samuel Fosso
Samuel spent most of his life in Nigeria among his people, the Igbo. Fleeing persecution caused by the Biafran War, he sought refuge in Central African Republic, where he opened his own photo studio at age 13. He initially began experimenting with self-portraiture to make pictures to send to his grandmother back in Nigeria. These images would express references to popular West African Culture - musicians, the latest fashion, and political advertising. In these projects, he explored sexuality, gender, and self-representation.

To My Little Sister: For Cindy Sherman, 1998 Yasumasa Morimura