Complicating the Body: Self-Portraiture as a Practice of Connection and Care with Frances Bukovsky

What if self-portraiture could be a process that, rather than being centered on the self, expanded the relational web the self exists in?

In this all-day, practice-focused workshop, photographer Frances Bukovsky will guide participants through prompts, questions, and exercises that introduce new ways of approaching self-portraiture as a creative practice. Rather than turning the camera inward in isolation, participants will explore self-portraiture as a tool for relational building, examining the ways they move through the world in connection with the people, places, and rhythms around them.

Along the way, participants will engage with one another through meaningful discussion, draw inspiration from contemporary photographers and writers, and develop a more intentional awareness of the interconnected relationships throughout their lives.

Each participant will have the chance to produce images during the workshop and will leave with a finished print of their self-portrait to share in a final group discussion and critique.

Workshop Schedule:

10 AM - 1 PM:
Artists will introduce themselves to each other before jumping into an introduction to self-portraiture with examples of historical and contemporary photographers and writers. Frances will provide technical instruction on how to create self-portraits as a part of this introduction. Throughout the morning, Frances will share prompts and questions for discussion with a focus on expanding self-portraiture as a practice of relating the self to the world around them. Leading up to the 1pm break, Frances will introduce prompts and questions for artists to take with them as they go out into the world to produce work.

1 PM - 6 PM:
Artists will produce self-portraits using the skills and concepts discussed in the morning session with the goal of producing 1-3 self portraits exploring a question and/or prompt of their choosing. Artists will select one self portrait for printing in the next session of the workshop and return with a digital file ready to print.

6 PM - 8 PM:
Artists will work with Frances to produce a print of their chosen self portrait at the ACP digital media lab. The workshop will close with a discussion circle in which participants are invited to share their process and experience in the group, as well as present their final print.

This workshop takes place on Saturday, August 15th, from 10 AM - 8 PM at Atlanta Center for Photography. 

Instructor Bio:

Frances Bukovsky is a photographer living in Marshall, North Carolina. They use embodied photographic practices that draw from their perspective as a chronically ill, neurodivergent, trans/non-binary person. Their practice focuses on photography as a tool for building relationships and highlighting interdependence and care, both for human and more-than-human bodies. They are a co-founding member of the Kinship Photography Collective, which aims to deepen empathy, intimacy, and connections with the natural world and each other through community collaboration. Bukovsky’s work has been shown in venues such as the United Nations HQ in New York City, The Bascom: A Center for the Arts, and UGA’s Circle Gallery. They are included in the permanent collection at UC Irvine’s Health College, and they published their debut monograph, Vessel, with Fifth Wheel Press in 2020.