Reflection 05

‘Reflection’ is a 5-channel video installation comprising portraits of people with facial disfigurement. Instead of being filmed directly to camera, the sitters’ faces were filmed reflected in a pool of water, both still and moving.

The work offers the viewer an opportunity to reflect on identity and difference. It also suggests narcissism, which usually has a negative connotation. However, psychologists have argued that healthy narcissism or self-love can be a required element for the development of identity. In this context, it questions if a certain amount of healthy narcissism is essential to living with disfigurement. It also questions if an obsession with unrealistic ideals of beauty in our popular culture is a form of collective narcissism.