Self Portrait Upside Down
Self Portrait Upside Down, 1992
by John Coplans (1920 â 2003)
Coplans, a writer and curator by profession, only started to take photographs and exhibit his work in 1980. After experimenting with a range of subject matter for four years he decided, aged 64, to focus exclusively on shots of the male nude, using himself as the model.
Notably, Coplans always leaves his head out of the picture in an attempt to neutralise his identity and depersonalise the image. In this way he strives to present the general rather than the particular and relates the body to type, rather than an individual.
The enlarged body parts are always shot on black and white film and provide direct and painfully honest images of the ageing process. There is also a high degree of ambiguity in many as here, where it is unclear if he is lying on his back or standing on his head?
Black and white photograph
Purchased through the Contemporary Art Society Special Collection Scheme with Lottery funding from the Arts Council England, 2001
