For the past several years I have been involved in creating interactive exhibits and installations for various museum around the country. Most of this work was collaborative in nature, and while involving a great deal of creative decision-making on my part, the end products were always the result of a large group effort. The projects involved making spaces interact with visitors using technology in order to help people to feel more involved with the exhibit. We used the tools of computer graphics, computer vision and architecture to create environments that react to the viewers. I am excited to use these tools as a medium to explore some personal issues and aesthetics by making pieces on my own and with small group of collaborators. I am drawn to work that reacts to viewers, and yet tells a personal story. I thought an alternative self-portrait would be a nice way to kick off this process of self-examination.

I have had access to a camera that has an unusually short focal length. In fact, objects touching the lens are still in crisp focus. With this tool, I became fascinated by the close-up imagery of different parts of my body, in particular my face. I see faces, and my face in particular, all the time. Yet viewed up close, they are still surprisingly unfamiliar and even otherworldy to me. Through the interaction of touching an image of my face to reveal magnified views, the portrait I made lets others join me in this "self-exploration."

In My Face is an interactive self portrait. It is a touch-screen in a kiosk showing a view of my face made of circles. When you touch any part of my face, that part baloons out and shows an extreme of that part of my face. The screen shots above show what you would see while pressing your finger against the screen.

You are getting a views of me that you would probably never see in person without being rude. Yet you are never seeing all of me clearly. Don't you find that the more you get to know someone, the more there is to explore?