3D self portrait: Dysmorphia

 Per the NHS, body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), or body dysmorphia, is a mental health condition where a person spends a lot of time worrying about flaws in their appearance. These flaws are often unnoticeable to others. I have struggled with body dysmorphia for seven years now. For me, body dysmorphia means having a lack of self-identity or constant perception of myself. Whenever I try to think about my physical appearance I do not have a clear image of myself, I see a blurry face or sometimes even nothing at all. And at the same time, I see myself the same way I looked when I was twelve. 

Therefore, self-portrait exercises are a big challenge for me, which is why I decided to create a piece that could represent this defiance. The brief for this project was to make a 3D self-portrait, for which I chose to do a clay relief. To have a starting base, first I took a photo of myself that I, later on, drew on my laptop.

Here are the photo and the drawing I made based on it:

Next, I transferred this design into a piece of thick paper that I later on glued into cardboard to have a stiff base.

After creating the sketch on paper I covered it with clay, making the hair and face. Next, I added the facial features. After letting the clay dry I painted all of it with acrylic paint:

I do like the concept and idea behind my project, but I believe that the piece itself is probably one of my worst projects ever. I ad many problems;

First, I ran out of clay, so the amount of volume I could create was limited. Next, the size was really small as well, since it is 15x12 cm. This means that the level of detail I could achieve was not ideal, which is why my lips look odd. And lastly, I used the wrong materials for the background. The humidity of the clay made the paper bend and the stiffness of the cardboard made the clay crack once it dried.