Don't Blink Homepage
	Artist Statement
	These self-portraits represent part of an ongoing series that was begun in 1988. All the photos are produced with an SX-70 Polaroid camera, and the text is taken from the tabloid newspaper The Weekly World News. The photos and text are scanned and composited in a computer file from which a 35mm transparency was made. This slide is then used to make the 20"x 24" transprint that is displayed in the lightbox. I decided to use the lightbox format not only for it's self-illuminating properties, but also it's ability to bring attention to the images without overwhelming the performance activities in the room. Politically the series concerns the tension that results from the dialogue between imposed and declared identities of women. The ambiguity of the words imposed and declared is intentional here. The imposition and declaration can come from within and without, from the woman herself and from the culture. The difference between the two words is that imposition is against the Will and declaration is by the Will. We are products of our culture so of course this often simultaneous dialogue/monologue leads to the confusion of where the declaration ends and the imposition begins. I am not presenting an answer or solution here about women's position in society, except to say that it is precarious. It is the threat of this precariousness that I want the viewer to feel as well by examining their own place in these stories. These are both self-portraits and portraits of others, there's an everywoman created on film through my act of self-portraiture. Her gaze back at the viewer is a gaze that both reveals and attacks. It is a dare to look more deeply at the woman pictured, and thus at one's self. The political aspect of these pieces is an essential element, yet these pieces are always first my attempts to deal with my own personal demons. I send thoughts to the camera just as I try to send thoughts to the people close to me. The camera is open to me just as a person is not; it accepts whatever I say without hesitation, and reflects it back to me. Through the work the listener/viewer is no longer confronted with a live person, but with a representation, an archetype. The lightbox format is another level of archetyping as it's familiar format pulls the woman into the realm of advertising, the American home of the archetype. The inherent duality of the self-portrait/portrait images is reflected in the text as well. There are always multiple ways to interpret the meaning of the text, and text/image combination. Whether the woman in the photo is the one talking, or is the one being talked about, changes the script profoundly. Ultimately these photos are all of the same woman, and are manifestations of the multiplicity of identities that one woman possesses and tries to reconcile. Margarat Nee