SELF 2020

Beginning my first daily self-portrait since 2010, I thought about personal things that had changed in ten years. I now had a smart phone with a camera, I was biking much more, and my obsession with flying, floating, and falling objects was renewed.

Begun in a mood of introspection, the series quickly morphed into something much bigger. My original idea of a personal visual diary gave way to a more universal concept, as we headed into lockdown in March and our world turned upside down. World events quickly spiraled out of control and my year of self-portraits became a documentation of our first year of global pandemic – a year of metaphors: 2020 vision, 2020 insight, 2020 hindsight.

In the drawings I explore my feelings about illness and death, politics and race relations, climate change, wildfires, and joy and inspiration: moods light and heavy. As self-observation gave way to broader considerations, multiple sub-series emerged. 366 drawings gave me ample space to explore those themes and more.

Take a moment to notice the shades of paper: black and greys in the winter give way to lighter colors in the spring, to more color in the summer, and deeper tones in the autumn. Most of the works are black and white, but occasionally I added metallic tones: silver, bronze, and gold. Like the little highlights in our lives at that time, the small kindnesses that made it all bearable.