The Human Face Mirror

This paper investigates the relationships between the real, perceived, desired images and the reproduced image of the human face and of the physicality of the subject who transfers it to his own self-portrait. There are many correspondences; both objective and interpretable, and visual arts have built on this practice a very long tradition that has lasted for centuries. However, the availability of advanced representation tools today allows the reproduction of a myriad of verisimilar images of the self, or perceived as verisimilar, experimenting multiple identities to trace the most suitable figure to tell about us to the others. The object of the study is the representation of one’s own image, conveyed by drawing techniques – analogical, digital, and hybrid – in order to identify methodologies and practices capable of communicating it. Correspondences should not only be sought in the likely adherence to the portrayed subject, but rather in the set of graphic artifacts that from time to time manifest themselves in the cognitive narrative of her individuality and become instruments to design social identity.