Creative Self Portraits in Textiles and Craft

Although Frida Kahlo's self-portraits always looked like her she added other elements into the paints that told us more of a story. Instead of saying "Oh this is a woman with dark hair" we can say "This is a woman who feels like she has been split into two".

What about this self-portrait? What do you think the necklace symbolises? Is it a thorny collar around her neck with a bird of death hanging from it? Or something a little more light hearted? What do the animals symbolise?

What about this self-portrait? I imagine most people know about Van Gogh cutting his ear off. Do you think this tells us more about the man than just what he looked like?

So many of us can't bear to spend the amount of time looking in the mirror that it takes to make a self-portrait.

With the rise of skinny, leggy, giraffe-necked, manipulated images in the media people are feeling worse and worse about the way they look.

Well, I say, forget about the way you look, completely!

Who are you on the inside? What does that look like?

Who are you when no one's looking?

Who are you when you're with the people you love?

Who are you when you're most comfortable?

It's great to dress up and put on the glitter but when I'm at my most comfortable I'm wearing a pair of old brown leggings with a hole in the knee (or a pair of old tracksuit bottoms - also with holes in the knees), a really huge long baggy t-shirt and I'm covered in fluff and thread and bits of fabric and sparkly stuff, sewing into a new textiles piece or writing.

Check out in the video below how Suzi Blu depicts herself in a portrait.

I love the idea Milliande has in the video above and I'm also a fan of Susan Seddon Boulet's paintings.

We have ideas of what certain animals are like - for example bees are referred as "busy bees" and lions are ferocious and proud, monkeys are cheeky.

What's your totem animal and how could you use it in a self portrait of yourself?

Perhaps you want to focus on one particular part of yourself or over-emphasise something?

What do you like best about the way you look?

What do you hate about the way you look?

How about concentrating on the part of your body you hate the most and making a piece of art that glorifies it? Why not? It doesn't have to be something that you ever show anyone else.

I guarantee that people will know more about you by looking at your environment than they wil by looking at you.

Are you tidy or messy?
What colours do you like to surround yourself with?
What would your ideal environment be?
What junk do you keep lying around?

What does all of this stuff say about you?

What about taking your silhouette and then filling that shape with all the things that you are?

This could be just texture or colours or you could make a jigsaw of the things that make up you.

This project is the Eighth Melted Fabrics Yahoo Group Craft Challenge.

If you'd like to join in then please visit us.

The more, the merrier!