Know Thy Selfie

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Writer Polly Coles reads Know Thy selfie, the first of her essays on portraiture and our obsession with ourselves. She looks at five different aspects of portraiture and makes the case that portraiture is the most intimate artistic conversation of all. Face to face with another human being, no other art form investigates and reveals more richly what it is to be human. Portraits can promote exploitation and self-aggrandisement, but at their best, they are instruments of honesty, love and profound attention. Polly suggests self-portraits are acts of radical self-exposure, whilst selfies achieve the opposite, constructing an image. Produced by Melanie Harris of Sparklab Productions Photo by Ella Gradwell You can find images of some of the paintings by artists referenced here: Jan van Eyk: bit.ly/Jan-Van-Eyck Tracey Emin: bit.ly/TraceyEminCBE Jonathan Richardson: bit.ly/JonathanRichardson William Utermohlen: bit.ly/WilliamUtermohlen; Claude Cahun: bit.ly/ClaudeCahunSelfPortraits Cindy Sherman: bit.ly/CindyShermanNPG Greta Sharp: bit.ly/GretaSharp The BBC is not responsible for the contents of the sites listed.