MISS MEATFACE

A Review of the Exhibition Sync, Psych, Self(sic)

Sync, Psych, Self (sic), an exhibition of photographic self-portraiture at the FK Gallery, ruminates on the idea that a self-portrait can attempt to depict the artist’s/subject’s self. Curator Stephanie Ballantine argues that this attempt to reveal the self is in direct contrast to the social media selfie. Often the selfie portrays an idealised and manicured image of reality. While the selfie projects an ideal and thereby obscures the self, the self-portrait aims to be an honest depiction of the subject. Text by Hannah van der Est, freelance writer and art critic based in Berlin. The exhibition took place at F.K.Kollektiv – FotoKlub Kollektiv Kiehlufer 7, 12059 Berlin

This is directly addressed by Stephanie Stonem’s Smile (2018) and Smile Text (2018). The photographs explore the artist’s complicated relationship with Instagram, highlighting the difference between the images on her Instagram and the reality of her daily life experiences.

Massat Bilu issler 2014 After Richter

This discrepancy points to a larger theme of the exhibition: the boundary between the self, the physical body and the image.

All the photographs in the exhibition are of bodies. However it quickly becomes apparent that clarity or exposure of the physical body is not a necessity when portraying the self. Some of the bodies in the photographs are naked and face the camera head-on like Benjamin’s Pfau’s Untitled (Keelung, Taiwan) (2017) or Danielle Terblanche’s Between Sentences (2018) while other photographs depict the body completely covered such as Kat Toronto’s MISS MEATFACE DESIREES ROSE (2017) or show the body turned away from camera like Massat Bilu-Issler’s After Richter (2014). The implication is that although the body and the self are extremely closely connected they are perhaps distinct.

Aasiyah
Isra Yaghi

The exhibition also emphasises that the body, and images of the body, are constantly policed. For example Daantje Bons’s I covered myself up, so I won’t offend you (2018), Sarawut Chutiwongpeti’s Wishes, Lies and Dreams The Dream of a Greater Country (2016) and Isra Yaghi’s Free (2018) demonstrate that attempting to show the self through the body is can be a political act and that the policing of bodies can make this attempt quite difficult at times.

x fk
Stephanie Stonem
Sarawut Chutiwongpeti

Collectively the photographs in the exhibition show that the attempt to capture the self is so intriguing precisely because it is so difficult. Hung on its own directly above the exhibition’s title is Aasiyah’s Je suis floue (2016). Translated to English the title would be “I am blurry”. The photograph is an out-of-focus self-portrait taken by facing a camera toward a mirror. Sync, Psych, Self (sic) suggests that it is not only Aasiyah who is blurry; Ultimately our selves are blurry, which arguably makes them an endlessly fascinating subject matter.

FK-Galerie Introduced 32 selected artists selected from nearly 200 photographic submissions. The open submission exhibition encouraged photographers and artists to submit photographs they deem a ‘self portrait’.

Artists:
Aasiyah
Albina Maks (Bina Carmel)
Anett Pósalaki
Bea Rodrigues
Benjamin Pfau
Candice Nembhard
Daantje Bons Daantje Bons Photography
Danielle Terblanche
Delaine Le Bas Delaine Le Bas
Elly Clarke Eleanor Boileau Clarke
Erika Zanelli
Giulia Thinnes
Hedda Hennix
Inkje Drescher
Irene Cruz Irene Cruz
Isra Yaghi
Jesus Ordaz
Joanna Szproch
John Carter
Kat Toronto ( Katlyn Mercedes Miss Meatface)
Massat Bilu – Issler
Mercedes Talevi Fotografía
Merve Terzi
Mora Kirchner
Natalia Portnoy
Pedda Borowskii
@Piotr Kuszyński
Ricardo Williams Photography
Róbert Weinraub
Sarawut Chutiwongpeti
Seraphina Klimmet
Stephanie Stonem