jocelyn allen: a year of self portraits

‘one year one day’ by jocelyn allen, 2012 image © jocelyn allen

london-based photographer jocelyn allen has completed her newest photographic project ‘the many faces of JFA’. the series pictures several close-range self-portraits of the artist taken between the dates of april 26th of 2011 and april 26th of 2012. each of the three-hundred and sixty-five images are laid over one another, divided into eight compiled photographs depicting allen’s face over seven weeks with each layer. the photographs taken over the span of the year serves as a component from which allen builds the unified piece, her eye exists as the only clear point within every hazy visualization combination. the collection also includes one work entitled ‘one year one day’ in which the artist has assembled all of the images captured in this self-portrait project in a singular photographic compilation.

allen tells designboom, ‘I began to think about the representation of a person in a photograph. generally a portrait is just a split second of time and I felt that in one image of me to the next I looked quite different, even if they were only taken a day apart. with this in mind I began to experiment with multiple images of myself, noticing that my right eye was the one element of my face that appeared consistent every time. by making it the focal point of the photographs, it lets my other features develop and change with the short duration to create slightly hazy images that one could arguably say create a ‘truer’ representation of me or perhaps just an average one.’

‘weeks 01-07’ image © jocelyn allen

‘weeks 08-14’ image © jocelyn allen

‘weeks 15-21’ image © jocelyn allen

‘weeks 22-28’ image © jocelyn allen

‘weeks 29-35’ image © jocelyn allen

‘weeks 36-42’ image © jocelyn allen

‘weeks 43-49’ image © jocelyn allen