As a queer black man, Paul Mpagi Sepuya explores the way
portraiture—and particularly self-portraiture—has the potential to both reveal
and withhold personal identity from the viewer. In this visually complex image,
Sepuya points his camera at a mirror that is partially covered by a torn
self-portrait. The artist’s face—the very element that, by convention, discloses
the inner character—is visible in neither the representation nor the reflection.
Having solved the visual riddle of Sepuya’s picture, the viewer is left with
the more profound and unresolved question of his identity.