ONLINE COURSE
The Expanded Self‑portrait: Exploring Traditional and Alternative Methods of Personal Expression
While every image we create contains an element of the self, only the self-portrait holds the photographer’s distinct personal perspective at its center. As we grapple with fluctuating times and shifting notions of identity, we’ll explore the ways in which the practice of self-portraiture can also shift. How can we challenge and expand the boundaries of this way of making work? Beginning with weekly exercises, students will experiment with a variety of alternative approaches to the self-portrait — still-life, landscape, portraiture, and more conceptual and collaborative practices, such as text art – alongside traditional methods, with the aim of finding an individual approach to the expression of the self. The work of photographers who have used a variety of modes of self-portraiture will be presented for robust discussion. Supported by in-class critiques, students will end the course with a cohesive portfolio of self-portraits.
Samantha Box is a Jamaican-born, Bronx-based photographer. In her studio-based practice, she uses self-portraiture, sound, and installation to articulate her personal diasporic/Caribbean experience. This work has been exhibited at the Houston Center of Photography (2019), and the Andrew Freedman House (2020). In Spring 2021, Box will join the Bronx Museum of the Arts’ AIM Fellowship program.
Her previous documentary work focused on New York City's community of LGBTQ youth of color, and was widely recognized, notably with a NYFA Fellowship (2010), and shown, most prominently, as part of the ICP Museum’s Perpetual Revolution exhibition (2017). This work is part of the permanent collections of the Open Society Foundation, EN FOCO, and Light Work.
Samantha holds a certificate in Photojournalism and Documentary Studies from the International Center of Photography (2006). She also holds an MFA in Advanced Photographic Studies from the International Center of Photographer/Bard College (2019).
Samantha teaches self-portraiture and documentary photography for StrudelmediaLive.
samanthabox.net
