I expect that most people, when asked to make a portrait of themselves through objects, will most naturally turn to items that illustrate their interests, work or daily life, just as artist Tom Sachs has done (Magazine, 2017). Tracey Emin took this line of thinking even further (too far?) with her highly personal Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963–1995 and My Bed installations (Tracey Emin, My Bed – Smarthistory, s.d.).
As I think about how we construct our identities versus how the external world confirms our identities, it seems to me that there is a point of tension. Individuals tend to think of themselves in subjective and psychological terms, while the external world sees us in terms of our actions, behaviours, words and appearance.
The official world, however—governments and their agents in the courts and police forces—sees us even more objectively: in terms of verifiable data. This has been the case since the earliest days of photography, when the Paris police began to document and catalogue the facial features of the accused (Bate, 2016: 83, 86–89). More recently, DNA samples have been used to confirm or rule out the identities of victims and perpetrators alike (although perhaps this isn’t quite a common as crime dramas would have us believe). The increasing turn toward “science” as the final arbiter of all truth encourages many to turn their DNA samples over to commercial companies who promise insight into our genetic history, and we regularly use biometric data to gain secure access to our phones, computers and workplaces.
Do my objects constitute a ‘truer’ portrait of me because they promise greater objectivity, or is something important about me missing? Am I more than my organic matter?
References
Bate, D. (2016) Photography: the key concepts. (Second edition) London New York: Bloomsbury Academic.
Magazine, W. (2017) Tom Sachs shapes a self-portrait through things, found and fabricated. At: https://www.wallpaper.com/art/tom-sachs-sperone-westwater-objects-of-devotion (Accessed 23/10/2021).
Tracey Emin, My Bed – Smarthistory (s.d.) At: https://smarthistory.org/tracey-emin-my-bed-1998/ (Accessed 23/10/2021).
The Self and the Other 