SELF-ISOLATING / SELF-PORTRAITS

Self-isolating during lockdown and solo living – with sometimes nowhere to go apart from memories and clearing the closet – reminded me of The Dressing Up Box and watching the quietly but resolutely ethical Mr. Benn TV animation programme from the early 1970s (his adventures were always real, never fantasies). Throwing in to the mix a love of photographers August Sander, Cindy Sherman (plus a bit of Village People) and a curiosity about self-portraiture (invention? projection? masks?), playing with roles, clothes and identities and capturing them all seemed a more immediate way of thinking and reflecting and communicating than writing with footnotes. I hope they trouble investments in the valourising of 'the authentic' and trouble boundaries of lightness and depth.

Man wearing Jewish phylacteries with one hand pressed aginst his eyes and the other clapsed against his chest

Man dressed as glamourous housewife wearing sunglasses and holding a cocktail shaker in one hand.

Man dressed in white sailor suit standing with hands on hips

Man dressed in onesie, holding a teddy bear and sucking his thumb

nake dman sitting astride a white office chair with the bag of the chair turned to the front to hide his genitals

Man in balck suit and bow tie holding opera glasses to his eyes with one hand and a programme in the other

man drssed in denim clothes and cap holding one fist in the air and a placard with Black Lives matter written on it — Photographs: Daniel Monk

Man dressed in tight biker leathers and leather cap — Photographs: Daniel Monk

Themes: Affect Arts Domesticity Emotional labour English Gender Housing Quarantine Self-care

Daniel Monk

London, UK

Daniel Monk is Professor of Law at Birkbeck, University of London. His research explores ideas and debates about childhood, families, education and sexuality, in a variety of contexts and draws on a range of methods. His two current research projects are a study of the impact of royal divorces on the institutions of marriage and monarchy and an examination of the regulation of school dress codes. http://www.bbk.ac.uk/law/our-staff/monk Email: d.monk@bbk.ac.uk

Daniel Monk

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