Faryal starts out standing on the left side of the space, holding a folded paper and wearing a chastising frown. She looks down at the paper and scowls, then wags her finger at an invisible character in front of her. She unfolds the paper and inspects it, then shows it to the audience: “MUST FOLLOW TRADITION.”

Faryal crosses to the place where the invisible character was standing before, plants her feet, and dispassionately reads the paper. She relaxes her stance after a few seconds and seems to ponder the words in front of her. With a barely perceptible shake of the head, Faryal suddenly turns the paper and tears it in half, then tears it again, and again. With no hesitation, she lets the pieces fall to the floor; she looks slightly amused as they flutter at her ankles. Faryal steps back, turns away from the pieces with her hands on her hips, and then, in a humble gesture of celebration that makes everyone laugh indulgently, puts her firsts in the air and says softly: “Woohoo!”

Faryal shows us here that she has declared independence from tradition; in fact, she not only demonstrates it in her self-portrait, she shows it in her appearance. Jeans and a T-shirt, studded belt and hair pulled back, she does not look very traditional; she is a modern woman through and through.

Eloise is seen awaiting the download of a piece of music or video. Even though the download doesn’t succeed, she simply says, “It’s not working”, while simultaneously shrugging off her shoulder. The shrug and the radiant smile that follow render her optimistic nature that doesn’t fail to show even in the face of obstacles.

Undismayed, she walks from the laptop to the whiteboard for next segment. She picks up a marker and with big, clear and slanted strokes, she writes out the word, “NEVER”, in capital letters.  As she emphasizes the word, “NEVER”, I anticipate that she’d point out a common mistake or impart some valuable advice. She does exactly that. Her finished work says, “NEVER be content to merely sit and watch”.  She also pauses between the words, “be content” and “sit”, which help to effectively deliver her message.  It is almost as if she is speaking to us, making sure that her intention sinks in our minds. Even though it is her self-portrait, she directs a universal message to the audience of not simply waiting for the performer to take lead, but to become an integral part of the performance by adding their own distinct thoughts.  This message may apply elsewhere in life as well; Eloise tries to teach us the importance of active engagement and thinking instead of mere following. At his point, I, and probably other members of the audience, am thinking if she wants us to take part in her performance.

Next, she walks over to the nearby table on her left, with the same genial smile. As she picks up the orange Jenga box, she actually speaks to the audience and asks them to help her play the game, including myself, the video recorder. This definitely marks her amiable personality, displaying the “people-person” she is. Instead of being nervous to perform in front of the audience, as most of us were, she exhibits such courage and confidence as to invite the audience to engage in the main part of her performance. Thus, the audience becomes an important constituent of her performance. Her consideration of the audience’s involvement in her performance presents her sociable as well as generous nature.

-Faryal

(I unfortunately managed to capture not the actual performance, but only some of the comments after it, with the camera looking down at my shoes :()

Sigal laid out multiple flags on the floor pieces of paper on the floor, all containing images of the Israeli and American flags. She then held up one of the American paper-flags to the audience with a contemplative look on her face… and then the paper flipped to show an Israeli flag on the other side. And then it flipped back to the American side. Then Israeli. Faster and faster. American. Israeli. American. Israeli. Sigal looked confused throughout all of this flipping, as if asking to herself, “Which side am I? Which flag am I loyal to? American? Or Israeli?”

Finally, she picked up another flag from the floor. This one had half of an American flag on it, with the other half Israeli; a custom kind of flag, just for Sigal. After showing this half-and-half flag to the audience, Sigal finally smiled.

Sigal’s self-portrait reflected on the issue of self-identity, a theme common amongst everyone’s self-portraits. A number of us were not born in the United States, and nearly everyone has some heritage in another corner of the world. Though the performance was short, its theme enabled the audience to connect with Sigal, as most of us have surely gone through a similar conflict: trying to figure who exactly it is that we are.

Though Sigal could have used a table for her props, her choice to sit on the floor worked well for this particular piece. Sigal was able to lay out multiple flags on the floor — all parts of her identity — for us, the audience, to see. And because she was on the floor, many in the audience had to shift forward in their seats to see everything that happening. This created a much more inviting performance than if Sigal were sitting and looking at the audience at eye-level.

That said, I did have some trouble enjoying the performance as much as everyone else did because I was trying to film it from above my head (never mind the fact that I apparently had not even pressed record at the time…). I had to make sure that the performance was actually in the shot, which required me to look up at the video camera — while everyone else was looking down at the actual performance. It’s certainly a little harder to enjoy someone’s performance when you’re viewing it behind a piece of glass instead of live, but I enjoyed what I saw nonetheless.

Lisa’s self portrait begins with her seated behind a table with a pen on it. She begins to rapidly click the pen while continually fidgeting in the chair.  As she stirs restlessly in the chair, she starts to play with her hair, but returns to the pen. Throughout the portrait she has a anxious look on her face and her incessant pen clicking is only interrupted by an occasional biting of nails.

What really struck me about Lisa’s portrait was the minimalist approach she took for her presentation. Her props were simple, a pen and a table, yet she was still able to show her message through her facial expression and body language. The table and pen evoked a classroom-like environment in my head and as soon as she begun to click the pen I immediately recognized that her portrait was about nervousness or possibly anxiety from school. Also the silence only broken up by the sound of the pen during her presentation gave the portrait a tense feeling that contributed to the nervous atmosphere. an a I understood this because because I am guilty of the same nervous tendencies as well, save the playing with hair.

I enjoyed her portrait becauseI too am guilty of the same nervous tendencies she portrayed, save the playing with hair. The subject of her portrait is easy to relate to especially in the life of a teenage student. Overall she did a great job in showing that at times anxiety may dominate her just as it can anyone else.

Alvin’s self-portrait was a great representation of not only himself, but of many young people today.  In his performance, Alvin sat at his laptop and spoke aloud what he was doing on his computer.  It was simple in the number of props used; however, it was well thought out, and it presented a deeper meaning than just a love of Facebook or computers.

What I liked most about Alvin’s self-portrait was how relatable it was.  He spoke about things that we as teenage college students can understand easily because we experience them everyday.  Initially, many young people spend a good amount of time on social media sites including Facebook.  We update our statuses, message friends, and use smiley faces like Alvin did in his presentation.  On the other hand, Alvin also used his Facebook-inspired presentation to express himself and his feelings, which we can all relate to.

In his presentation, Alvin included comments about our seminar and the presentation he was doing putting his performance in real time.  He also mentioned how he was in front of the class, but he did not particularly like it, showing a shyer side of himself.  The way he was seated during the presentation, almost hiding behind his laptop, also shows a shyer side.  Still, he was able to perform well and get his message across to the class.  Alvin also showed a humorous side of himself in his performance.  His comments about staying awake in lecture and affording food showed a witty side of himself.

An important topic that Alvin covered in his Facebook-themed self-portrait was the fact that social media and the Internet in general can cause people to become easily distracted.  He says that he has chapters to read for another class; however, Facebook is more interesting and less tedious.  This generation’s youth can often be distracted from their work by social media, including Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.  The internet overall can be very distracting to all people, not solely the younger generation, although they seem to be most affected due to the fact that these social media sites have been becoming popular in their generation.

Although I was filming Alvin’s performance, I tried not to look at it too much through the lens.  It is better to see things in person than on a screen because the screen cannot really capture as much detail and emotion as your eyes can.  Ultimately, I enjoyed Alvin’s performance very much.  He was able to take something as common as sitting at your computer and turn it into commentaries about himself and life in general.  His self-portrait was extremely relatable which kept the audience focused and intrigued.

Sayeeda held in her hands two objects, a piece of cardboard with a world map on one side and container of black pushpins. The first thought that crossed my mind was that her self-portrait would have something to do with identity. Was she having trouble deciding where her affiliation or loyalty belonged to? But as soon as she began her performance, I knew that my initial conjecture was wholly inaccurate. I watched Sayeeda as she held her right hand over her eyes, pick up a push pin with her left, and stuck the pin into a random place on the map. She repeated this multiple times, opening her eyes and looking at where she placed the pin after each repetition. I was very intrigued by her performance, but I still did not understand what she was trying to show us. She suddenly flips the cardboard map backwards and on it are the words, “Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile. – Albert Einstein.” Her entire performance came together for me in that one sentence. It was as if someone finally turned on all of the lights in the room and I was able to see the other side clearly.

The power in Sayeeda’s performance lay within its initial ambiguity. Not knowing the true meaning of her actions kept the audience entranced and eager to discover her intentions. From her self-portrait, we learn that Sayeeda wants to help others without judgement and her desire to do so is apparent in her smile and lighthearted aura on ‘stage’. Her overall performance was simple and clean, and it elucidated a side of her that we have already caught a glimpse of from the start.

There is a distinct difference between watching a live performance and capturing it on film. The overall experience of watching something in person is much more… whole. You know that you are in the same room as the performer, sharing the same environment and all that comes with it. Witnessing and filming it, however, can be a totally different experience. The performer suddenly becomes isolated in a small, separate area. It feels as if he/she is in a different space, one that you are watching, but not sharing. But for me, watching her self-portrait on camera did not take away from it at all. I am quite used to filming events, but sometimes I get so consumed with taking pictures or videos that I forget that I should actually be living the experience itself. I tried to alternate between watching Sayeeda live and on camera, which can be a little tricky, especially when it comes to holding the camera steady.

There were no flashing lights, elaborate set designs, or complex musical accompaniment, but Sayeeda’s message still came out powerfully and clearly because she put all of herself into her performance.

Before even mentioning the elements of Josh’s self – portrait, I have to commend how relaxed and composed he was while doing what everyone in the class hoped they did not have to do: present first.

Josh started his presentation taking out several dishes of food, one by one. He did not rush, nor did he show any signs of nervousness. Right away, the class was already anticipating what Josh would do with the food. The way he took out the dishes showed that Josh is patient and careful. He wrote different things on the tops of the containers of food, such as “new experiences” and “new foods”. He then tried every one of the foods. Each container represented Josh’s love for new things and curiosity towards life. He has a free spirit and is very open minded.

One of my favorite parts of Josh’s self-portrait was his subtle involvement of the audience. He had stated that the salad was extra for “everyone to share”, showing more of his caring and generous personality. When he also stated little comments like “tastes good”, we all wanted to come and try the food right next to him. The fact that Josh left the “new friends” dish for last involved the audience even more, because we all felt as if we were part of the “new friends” dish that Josh was willing to try and were left with this feeling even when the presentation ended. From Josh’s self-portrait we can already tell that Josh is excited for all the “new” things life has to offer him as a freshman at Macaulay and over all a careful, curious, and people-loving individual.

Unfortunately, the video of Josh’s self portrait is too large to upload for this site 🙁

Stella Chin always seems peaceful and collected. Her smile is ever-present, her laugh a constant. So it only make sense that her smile be the main point of her self-portrait. But Stella used her smile in a way that is different from what I am used to seeing. In Stella’s performance, she holds up a smile to her mouth. By doing this, Stella shows the audience a vital piece of who she is – her happiness. But that is not all. She then moves the smile to cover the rest of her face, which I interpreted to mean that she was using a smile to hide. She must have been nervous standing up there in front of a classroom full of peers and a professor, as we all were. Stella used her smile to hide her discomfort. This may be a reflection of her actions in general, though it may also be for this single event. The self-portrait was short and simple, taking up a minimal amount of space, only the area where she was standing. This minimalism allowed for her message to be clear. But her self-portrait was not just her performance. Her laughter at the end is a sigh of relief, a shine of energy. This laughter affirms the performance that Stella gave. She may get scared, but she’ll always have an inner happiness.

Meira’s self portrait started off with an accurate depiction of her nervousness when performing in front of others. She stood up there and could not stop laughing, while her face turned bright red. I, like most of the class thought that her self portrait was just going to be her depiction of her nervousness, but that was not the case. After a couple of seconds of laughter, Meira finally got the courage to start her performance.

Meira started to sing and dance around the whole room, using up all the space she could. This exemplified her courageousness and her love of performing. She herself thought that her portrait was embarrassing, however for me, her performance showed off her bravery and her love of the stage. Having interviewed Meira, I found out that she loves to sing and dance, even though she states that she doesn’t do them very well. Her self portait also portrayed her as real to the audience because, who doesn’t get nervous singing and dancing in front of people? Throughout the whole performance, her smile never disappeared and her genuine aspects shone.

I believe that looking through a camera lens takes away from the performance. Throughout the entire performance I was only focused on making sure that the lens followed Meira while she performed instead of really focusing on all the aspects of her performance. After re-watching the video, I was able to fully see how well Meira used the stage and how well prepared her performance was.

Sophie once said before, that she would love to learn the Salsa. Her desire to dance is shown in this performance: endless twirls and flailing arms. It started off with an awkward laugh and smile. Then, she let down her braid and threw off her shoes, without giving it a second look. And then, she twirled and twirled, like the ballerinas in those delicate music boxes.

She used the whole classroom as her stage instead of being stationary.  With her bare feet, Sophie twirled everywhere. Left and right, back and front. Looking at the way she spun around endlessly, it was almost like we were sucked in a trance. Her arms were up in the air, and her hair was flowing around her. And if you kept staring, somehow you could picture her in another setting, maybe even in a tropical rainforest.

The way she threw away her shoes showed how she didn’t care. It didn’t matter whether the floor was dirty; at that moment, it seemed like all she cared about was being unrestricted, and those shoes proved to be a restriction for her. The same goes for her hair. Instead of it being neatly done, she let her braid down and let it get loose and wild. Those two actions she showed at the beginning showed what she liked to be: fun and free.

Recording a performance is never the same as watching it in person. While you’re trying to capture every single fleeting moment on camera, there might have been something you missed in person. You can see everything in person, but on the camera, it’s not as easy to capture everything you want to capture. While I was recording Sophie, I found it rather hard to enjoy a performance when you’re trying to capture it at the same time.