Francesca Woodman’s photographic self-portrait: between fable and metamorphosis

Abstract

Francesca Woodman (1958-1981, Denver, Colorado) was an artist who practiced self-portraiture extensively. However, this constant representation of her own image was not without its deceptions, since what the photographer wanted to show about herself was a set of
representations knitted together under the thread of narratives that are rooted in fable and mythology. Moreover, the artist herself maintained a game of mirrors with the receivers of her works, since the female self-portrait to which she leaves testimony is often fragmented and seems to want to escape from her own representation by attending to the author’s wishes to transcend the limits imposed by the photographic medium. Thus, I will approach her work through the axial theme of metamorphosis, created through mechanisms such as the transfer of the metaphors of poetry to the work of visual art.