About us
Looking at a mirror is sometimes like looking at an image of ourselves. At the first instance, it is a somewhat intimate experience. However, this first look often is followed by our own evaluation and judgment of how we appear to others. What we like or dislike. In addition, both, the mirror and the image, might trigger our emotions and memory, what we feel or remember, our associations and wishes, and what we see in it. But why do we take images of ourselves?
By making those images we already have created an idea of who we are and see the intended result in front of us. We compose carefully to put ourselves in the centre of interest and eliminate disturbing elements or expressions. Technology helps us to show ourselves to the world exactly how we want to be seen. We even can use software and filters to enhance the vision of ourselves we just created. But what do we want to convey? The beauty we witness in the mirror? Our wellbeing expressed in emotions or attitude?
In past times, there was no reason to document the look into mirrors. What would have been the aim of documenting this moment of intimacy or self-evaluation? Today, we have small cameras in our pockets and can use them at any moment to have a look at ourselves. Even more than that, an image can be taken instantly and made available to the world with a click. It's almost too easy and we can do it without a second thought.
With mobile devices our mirror got wings. We are no longer restricted to intimate or private situations. We can make an endless series of images of ourselves at any location which is nothing but exclusively about us. We change locations and travel the world putting ourselves in beautiful sceneries. We meet people and pass time with them documenting our relations. We take part in events and have fun perpetuating our participation. However, regardless of context or location, this is all about ourselves. It is how we want to be seen.
Having taken such an image, it needs to be made available to a greater audience. Sharing images of ourselves with others has become natural. It is a way to be present without meeting, to stay connected without touching. The representation of ourselves is virtual but tangible, the portfolio designed is coherent and fluent: a perfect representation of us omitting reality.
When I approached a viewing point at the mediterranean sea, two layers of people making images of themselves popped up just in front of me. The people were of many different ages and before thinking too much, I just took an image. Looking at the image later, I recognized, that the people from the older generation, in the background, still had someone else to take their image, while the younger people, in the foreground, just made the image themselves („self-portrait“). And independently of mirrors, images, and reasons to make and share images of ourselves, I was asking myself: what will the next generation do to take their images? Will there no longer be the need to make them? Or will we ever like to look at our reality again?