Apologeticus: "Respice post te! Hominem te esse memento! Memento mori!"

This image is part of a series I am working on titled, “Horoscopes for the Dead,” which are a group of transparent montaged photographs printed on glass. This memento mori is a self portrait created in response to an excerpt from Tertullian’s Apologeticus: "Respice post te! Hominem te esse memento! Memento mori! - Look behind you! Remember that you are but a man! Remember that you'll die!"

By layering transparent photographs of the female body with objects found in nature and text, I hope to examine the palimpsest of emotions attached to how we define ourselves and how the viewer engages with this imagery. I hope to turn the gaze of the lens inward and have began to explore the performative nature of gender and identity found within portraiture.