Old me, new me is a coloured pencil drawing on tracing paper, created using reference photographs from 2012 and 2024. Having rediscovered a series of photographic self portraits made in 2012, I created a response resembling a dialogue between the versions of myself as a younger and older woman. In the 2012 images I am removing make up, a comment on beauty standards and expectations for women. In the most recent image I am applying face cream but have no make up on, a reflection of the ongoing pressure to preserve youthfulness. The two drawings are distorted interpretations of the original photographs, a comment on the distorted and manipulated view of women of all ages. The images were then layered digitally in procreate illustrating the quote:

“Women constantly meet glances which act like mirrors reminding them of how they look or how they should look. Behind every glance there is judgment.”

― John Berger, Ways of Seeing