Zelfportret in "oriëntaals" kostuum c. 1900 - 1910

Mr. L. de Bruyn created this self-portrait in "oriental" costume using photography, but when I look at it I wonder about the performance in the image, what was that like to produce? There's something so direct about the way he looks out at the viewer. The photograph is sepia-toned, giving it a soft, aged feel, but the details are so crisp – the folds in his turban, the texture of the striped fabric of his clothes. And behind him, all those ferns. The surface of the photograph seems smooth, but in the shadows, you can feel the grain of the image, like an etching. My eye is drawn to the way the light hits the string of beads in his hand, a small detail, but it adds a layer of intimacy. It reminds me of the theatrical self-portraits of artists like Rembrandt, but with a modern twist. Both artists are interested in questions of identity, and how we perform for the camera, or for ourselves. In the end, what we see is how identity is also unstable and unfixed.