Untitled (projection) #P6

Carla Williams made this revealing yet withholding self-portrait when she was a photography major in college. She is nude, but covered in powder and shrouded by blue light. Her closed eyes make viewers aware that they are looking at someone who has refused to look back.

Williams created this and many other self-portraits in her youth but never publicly exhibited them until recently. Reflecting on these works now, she notes:

"Making self-portraits and using instant film and prints, I knew I had complete control over the images and thus invested in them a degree of freedom that I might not have if I had thought anyone would ever see them, because I didn’t think anyone ever would. They still delight me in their innocence and wonder . . ."