What do you see when you look in the mirror? Do we truly see ourselves as we really are, and do others perceive us in the same way as we see ourselves in the mirror? This is a fascinating process that involves the brain and its ability to adapt and interpret visual information from the outside.
The brain can introduce certain distortions into the image we see in the mirror. It has the capacity to "fill in" details that might be blurry or partially hidden. Can it also include smoothing asymmetries in our faces or even emphasizing our best features, especially if we have a strong desire to appear more attractive? Our visual apparatus is so closely intertwined with the brain that it's challenging to discern where one part of visual information processing begins and another ends, and to what extent it is subject to this processing.
I capture self-portraits and explore distortions in reflections, and the images that arise when a standard image is refracted. At what point is it still clear that there is a human figure in the reflection? Is that person still me, or is it already a stranger looking back at me?
