How Students View Themselves: Use of Self-Portraiture as an Avenue for Expression of the Self among Diploma Art Students at Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

When students create portraits, they approach the assignment with an open mind, with the basic purpose of creating a picture bearing a significant likeness of the subject. It is subsequently presumed that when they draw their self-portraits, this quest to portray an accurate likeness is enhanced and attracts their specific interest. This study sought to find out whether, in the formative Diploma stage in drawing, students were able to meet the basic expectations of portrait drawing. Although this was not designed to be a comparative study with other units at the degree level, it also sought to find out whether the level of entry was a factor in the definition of quality of work as defined in portraiture. The study selected 24 self-portrait drawings that were deemed to have attained a significant level of completion within the time frame allocated. The level of completion here referred to a holistic depiction of the self that was adequate to enable analysis. The drawings were analysed using formal analysis through the examination of regular elements such as line, shape, light and shade, and texture, as well as the application of principles such as proportion and balance. Students were encouraged to draw using freehand. The analysis also included the basic approaches to drawing portraits, such as placement and alignment of eyes, nose, mouth, hairline, cheekbones, chin, and facial edges. The analysis also included the presence of the concept of likeness, which is a critical factor in the essence of portraiture; the self must appear as the self to a significant extent for self- gratification It can be deduced from the study that students emanated significant satisfaction in creating self-portraits through drawing particularly in attaining a certain degree of ‘self-likeness’. It can also be deduced that self-portraits bear the visual tendency to provide a veneer of self-examination akin to peering through a mirror. The study concluded that this incursion into the self was an important visual assessment of how students ultimately viewed themselves, although they understood their innate personalities from the onset.