The Third Eye
Thomas Bachler
From the series The Third Eye – Self-Portrait, Baryta paper, 30 x 40 cm
Germany 1985
„Contemplating the reduction of the recording apparatus, I eventually came up with the idea of using my own body as a camera. Holding a film strip material in my mouth, I took self-portraits facing a mirror. The slight opening of the lips worked as an aperture. My body photographed itself facing a mirror – blurred and indistinct, it worked. Comparing the image of myself in memory to these pictures I realise that the ‘mental self-portrait’ displays a similar blur and is as hard to grasp. Is this because of me? Or is it due to the fact that without mirrors, photographs or other pictures we would know next to nothing about our outer appearance?
Some years later I applied this photographic technique to nude portraits – these do not need any further commentary.
Thank you.” (Bachler 2001)
Thomas Bachler, born 1961 in Germany lives and works in Dresden.
More images
Reference
Thomas Bachler, „The Third Eye,“ in Thomas Bachler – Arbeiten mit der Camera Obscura/Pinhole Exhibits (Kassel: Lindemanns Verlag, 2001), p. 27.
