Self-Portrait, Every Year
Self-Portrait, Every Year, 1972–2021.
Video, 6 min. 58 sec.
In Self-Portrait, Every Year (1972–2021, 6 min. 58 sec.), McCafferty filmed himself shaving in front of a mirror once a year. Repeating the same action annually for nearly five decades until his death, the work charts his physical transformation and aging. Reflecting in 2007, McCafferty said, “For me it’s a meditation. When I look at the still prints that I made from the video, it’s really interesting to see my whole life as one unit, with past and present going back and forth on each other.”
-Glenn Phillips, “Jay McCafferty,” in California Video: Artists and Histories (Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute and J. Paul Getty Museum, 2008).
GRI, Special Collections. Gift of Jay McCafferty.
MCC_Video_01
