Methodology (in progress)
My practice-led research project focuses on portraiture as an auto-ethnographic methodology. I have chosen this creative methodological approach because it supports my research aims to examine the self and challenge traditional conventional narratives around gender and aging. Portraiture provides a complementary methodological framework because it offers a feminist, democratic, authentic and intrinsically trustworthy form of qualitative research (Straka, 2019).
Portraiture draws on ethnography and phenomenology to “describe, understand and interpret complex human experiences” (Lawrence-Lightfoot and Davis, 1997). I am interested in discovering and revealing artefacts of self and whether it is possible to convey the phenomenology of female aging against the backdrop of invisibility and shame in our society. Narrative self-portraits, through their inherent authenticity, present a challenge to the traditional meta-narratives of colonisation and patriarchy and may provide an opportunity for meaningful encounters and dialogue.
Drawing on contiguity and thematic-based methods for constructing narrative portraits, my methodology combines these two forms of praxis. (Jacobs & Rodrigues-Dorans, 2020), The first represents a contiguous method, using the same subject (me) and repeating a process (self-portraiture), in the same setting (my studio) throughout the year. The second thematic approach, influenced by Virginia Woolf (ref) and other writers (ref), relies on a stream of consciousness to identify patterns and abstract connections across my subject’s (my) lived experience. Connections are made through a mixed process of daydreaming, journaling and the documentation of items of interest recorded in a series of videos entitled Field Notes.
In a series of self-portraits, Mood Broads, I have chosen a smaller format, 60cm x 40cm, as it allows me to create more rapidly in oils and mimics the proportions of a passport or photo booth. Fig. 1 Mood Broads #40 (2025) shows an example of the author’s portraits. Capturing this portion of the body concentrates the focus on emotions that are most vividly portrayed in the face. My portraits draw on Freud’s psychoanalytic theories, the repetition of childhood loss of objects of affection and their guilty replacement with external objects, or, in some cases, the internalisation of desire, in the form of narcissism. I am also interested in the mirroring theories propagated by Freud (ref) and Lacan (ref) and expanded on by Winnicott (ref) in his theories on childhood development. Winnicott’s theory describes how humans develop as independent beings through the facial recognition of similarity and difference that we gain through interactions with our mothers (or significant caregivers).
I am influenced by other figurative artists who deal in affect, including Jenny Saville. My painterly process has included obscuring some areas and making others transparent, using different paint mediums to create layers and incorporating torn canvas and other materials. As humans, we are used to reading faces for signs; therefore, it seemed logical that the face could be a site of encounter. I have also used a uniform subject matter, which allows for a measure of affect and artistic development. It is intended that the small portraits will form other narratives what might these be? when curated and installed. I have created a total of 40 portraits. As artefacts of self, I am reluctant to assign these to failures and successes and have not yet decided on the presentation of the finished work.
Fig 2. 2643 Coffees (2025), provides an example of a narrative portrait created by the author.
In another narrative portrait, 2643 Coffees, influenced by Sophie Calle, I have chosen to portray my relationship as a core part of my self-identification. Refer to the type of relationship it is – long term partner. The work was inspired by the silk material I originally intended to mimic skin. Upon this fragile surface, I gradually hand-dyed segments of silk over a period of three weeks. Using silk paint and a stencil, I then recorded numbers to represent the number of coffees made for me over the years. The work symbolises time spent in a relationship, the acts that bind us, acts that sever us and the gradual fading of desire. Creating this work has enabled not only personal growth and reflection on the nature of this relationship but has also helped to engage with others. The work tells a story that I imagine many other women can relate to.
This combined methodological approach has parallels with Freud’s theories centring on the dynamic concept of self and dialectic between the Ego and the ID, desire and repression, with one central difference: there is no Super Ego to make conscious the unconscious and mediate in the formation of identity.{Freud, 1923 #72} It might be argued that the Super Ego acts as the Captain Self, described as one of the narrative voices employed by Virginia Woolf in Di Battista’s experimental biography, Imagining Virginia Woolf {Di Battista, 2009 #62}. I have attempted to bring the two methodological parts together by documenting and reflecting on my work on my website. When seen as a whole, it is easier to gain perspective on emerging themes and techniques and what this may mean in terms of both artistic and personal growth.
Relating this notion of the conscious and the pre-conscious to the research methodology for this project, perhaps this moderating voice is necessary for the synthesis to enable the development of the self? What other moderating influences become part of our self-development and integration with others? Methodologically speaking, this has presented a few extra challenges. Firstly, it is important to acknowledge that the creation of self-portraits and/or personal narratives involves the risk of reigniting trauma. Midway through the project, it became apparent that the process of creating multiple selves was leading to a type of disassociation and distance rather than the intended aims of self-integration and connection with others. It seemed not only helpful but necessary to return to a therapist to help unpack and make sense of the memories and emotions that surfaced in the studio. The therapeutic presence has now become part of my artistic process and research methodology.
Research Questions:
What happens when we add the self to portraiture as a methodological enquiry? How do we arrive at our narrative voice? How do we create a site of encounter with others? The final part of my research methodology involves the design of materials that prompt an interaction with the viewer. This is still in progress, but I am envisaging a mood questionnaire or coloured symbols that can be left to denote the affect response that the portraits leave.
