A black and white photograph of a relaxed, naked woman reclined with her hands behind her head and two snakes on her abdomen. The photograph is scratched and colored with yellow, green, and pink marker.

Carolee Schneemann, Eye/Body #5, 1963/1973. Helen M. Danforth Acquisition Fund.

Introduction

The Performative Self-Portrait

May 13 - November 12, 2023

This exhibition explores the work of photographers who turn the camera back upon themselves. From capturing themselves in shadows and reflections to trying on alternative or speculative identities, The Performative Self-Portrait explores the body as material and medium and photography as vehicle to consider ways artists use self-portraiture to enact the self, question history, and articulate identity. Made between 1930 and the present, works in the exhibition range from new acquisitions to older works on view for the first time.

Curated by Conor Moynihan, Assistant Curator, Prints, Drawings & Photographs, and Matthew Kluk, Brown PhD 2025, History of Art and Architecture

RISD Museum is supported by a grant from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, through an appropriation by the Rhode Island General Assembly and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and with the generous partnership of the Rhode Island School of Design, its Board of Trustees, and Museum Governors.

For a complete checklist, email curatorial@risd.edu.