Art Works: Autobiography

Everyone projects a self-image, but rarely does it accord with others' perceptions. Everyone carries memories from the past, but often they are selective distortions of the truth. Arranged into themed "rooms," Autobiography reflects a wide variety of artistic attitudes and practices. Some artists claim to reveal the private details of their lives in authentic shows of intimacy; others seek to mask themselves behind invented alter egos or carefully designed images or personae. Some explore the influence of the media or of political and social systems on our sense of who we are, while others explore the impact of one's ethnic or racial background on self-identity. Artists question how identity is formed in a global world and explore the changing role of the individual in modern society, expanding our understanding of what it means to be alive today. All of the artists in this book use art to figure out the complicated ways in which we create stories about ourselves. All of them help us understand the world in which we live.… (more)