​What constitutes a self-portrait? 
A self-portrait is more than a literal copy of facial characteristics. A face is always in transition moment to moment, reacting to things happening and things being said; reactions shaped by the person you are, what you have learned and experienced. Artists like Tracey Emin play with this endlessly as her practice is all about her life experience: one could say she makes nothing but self-portraits.
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To examine some of the possible elements that shaped me as a person, I made a montage of things in the moment. For example, as a 12 year old I used green colours only for a whole year at school, and I still like green. As a smaller child, I built worlds out of cardboard boxes so the elements of this mobile hang from a cardboard box. The red spot in the mobile Abstracted Selfie (2023) references Helene Schjerfbeck's Self-portrait with a red spot (1944).​
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​Consider artists who reveal themselves and their ideas obliquely rather than as photo-like images:  
Chila Kurmari Burman, 28 Positions in 34 years, 1992 
Ryan Gander, I be . . .(X), 2016 
Ryan Gander, Self portrait VIII, 2012 : ‘ . .  . [H]ow ridiculous it is to build clumsy egocentric monuments to yourself . . .’
​  (See Rudd, N (2021:164-5) The self-portrait, Thames&Hudson, London) 
Tracy Emin – numerous works including My Bed, 1998, and her many quilts 
Faith Ringgold, Self portrait, 1998 
​Helene Schjerfbeck painted many portraits and self-portraits throughout her career.