I still remember the first self-portrait I took. I had just moved to Addis Ababa, wanting to start my Modern Muse photography series.  I had all these ideas in my head, but I didn’t yet have anyone to be photographed so I decided to take a portrait of myself. 

From that day on, this practice has evolved to me making  self-portraits every time I need to express feelings I have no words for. I use overwhelming emotions as part of my creative process. So, I picked up my camera.

The vulnerability I feel in taking self-portraits and sharing them has allowed me to better understand the feelings and experiences of the women I photograph. Putting myself in their shoes allows me to understand what I’m asking from my sitters and it establishes a connection before I photograph them.

What started as a substitute suddenly developed a whole new meaning both to me and to my work as a whole.

This series keeps evolving into a process that challenges and teaches me to turn my vision to reality and is an important form of expression for me as an artist. The large scale cyanotype prints were printed during my residency at Photoworks.