photographers

Pretend to Be Your Own Boyfriend

Photo: Courtesy of Pennie Koliopoulou

What would it look like if you dated you? What would it be like if you just screwed up your courage and finally married yourself? Would you make yourself so happy? Would you spend all your days cooking in your underwear? It could be bliss. Other people are the worst.

Embracing the notion that love and other people can often suck, photographer Penelope Koliopoulou began a project in which she posed as both halves of a couple. That series, called Self Portraits, is kinda a bummer — but it’s intriguing, humorous, and affectionate as well.

In an interview with Vice, Koliopoulou talks about criticizing relationships and romantic comedies. The best way to do that was to express both parts of the story:

How come you decided to make these self-portraits rather than recruiting models?
Initially, I thought of making them using friends of mine. But I’ve always worked with self-portraits — I’ve always been interested in conversations that deal with identity … I could also take this conversation a little further, though — talk about how we project our expectations onto the people we choose to be with, even if sometimes these expectations have nothing to do with who they are.

We also mimic them, trying on their expressions, gestures, or phrases they use.
Yes. And you end up looking more and more like each other, and sometimes you lose your sense of self.

Especially if you and your partner are literally one person.

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Pretend to Be Your Own Boyfriend