You don’t have to say that nature is aware of your existence, that God knows you are here. The camera gives you proof that you have lived at least once.

You don’t have to say that nature is aware of your existence, that God knows you are here. The camera gives you proof that you have lived at least once.

The selfie era offers a big opening: everybody can do it; nowadays even five-year-olds know how to take a nude self-portrait.

...I started photographing myself, and found that I could see portions of myself that I had never seen before. Since I face just my face in the mirror, I know pretty much what it's like. When I see a side-view I'm not used to it, and find it peculiar... So, photographing myself and discovering unknown territories of my surface self causes an interesting psychological confrontation.

At any rate, when I began photographing myself, I could place myself in poses that had not been investigated by other artists. It was an area other artists hadn't touched. Then, I went on from there. I manipulated my image - distorting it, brutalizing it. People thought I was mad, but I felt I had to tell these things. It gave me a kind of excitement.

Making art is dealing with people on your own terms. The ideal way of using people is using them like clay, but that being out of the question, except for lunatics and leaders, art is a good alternative.

I am my own investigation territory.