Mobile Photography & Art Instagram Showcase – 23 August 2020

Not all self-portraiture includes the photographer, sometimes it is possible to use other people to stand in. I mentioned Sophie Calle‘s work last week and her series ‘Take Care of Yourself 2007-2009), is an example of this. Some photographers use people in a metaphoric sense, I’m thinking of Maria Kapajevea, in ‘A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Woman, 2012-ongoing’) or some choose not to include anyone in the picture at all (Nigel Shafran, Washing-up 2000). All of these approaches are classified as self-absented portraiture, similar to self-portraiture but none include the photographer in a literal sense. In many ways, physically, I have started to feel that maybe I might be disappearing, fading at least from view. Yesterday afternoon, I left our house, with the brunette for a walk to what we call ‘the secret garden’. It is so small and exclusive, it is by the river and they serve the most delicious selection of homemade cakes and an assortment of beverages. As we were enroute, we met a neighbour and as we passed we acknowledged her but then she stopped us to say, ‘oh Joanne, I haven’t seen you for so long, you’re so thin, you’re skin and bone, are you ok?‘. The brunette nodded with her. I explained that I had been shielding for the best part of four months, so not ventured out much. I said we were just going to eat delicious cake and she replied ‘good, you need to eat ten of them, I’m worried about you‘. As we continued to walk, many thoughts came to mind, terrifying me with the fragility of these moments. When we reached the ‘secret garden’ and selected our cakes, we sat by the river and I started to think more on self-absented portraiture, as I felt myself vanishing from the view of my neighbours, family, world. There are aspects of our lives, things we do, feel and think – that we daren’t confess, even to ourselves, even in the absolute privacy of our private record. What can I know? Nothing for sure. What ought I do? What may I hope for? For the best and thus I decided self-absented portraiture will be the focus of my next photographic series.

Thank you to all the talented artists for submitting your works to our showcase this week. If you would like your work to be considered for entry in to our weekly Mobile Photography and Art Flickr Group, please submit it to our dedicated group, here. You can also submit images to our Instagram tag for this section #theappwhisperer.

Gianluca Ricoveri, Lorenka Campos, VeraJane Vickers, lila_lile, Deborah McMillion, Karen Axelrad, Meri Walker – TheiPhoneArtGirl, Joseph Cyr, Catherine Caddigan, Deborah Field, Jun Yamaguchi, @rain.is.poetry, @elsienah, Roberta Mitchell, @camorgan.art, Vicki Cooper, Clarrise Debout, @accidental_artist3, pause.and.breathe – Susan Latty, @setanua, @ja_graham – Jennifer Graham, @draman – Roger Guetta, Christine Mignon, @psychephoto – Robin Cohen, Fiona Christian, Eliza Badoiu, @patragraphy, @salwa_afef_photography, Emilio Nadales, @berleyart, @marshadraws – Marsha Estes, @michellebishoff, Cedric Blanchon, M. Cecilia São Thiago, @mitrydate, @after.1st.illumination – Jane Schultz, @jules4921 – Rita Colantonio, @projetomobgrafia, @bakkerlaila, Linda Hollier, Janis Brandenburg Lee.