The Looking-Glass Self

• Photographer
  Joey Lam
• Technical Info
  Portraiture Taken In 35mm Film.
• Photo Date
  May 2022

The looking-glass self is a portrait series based on a high school graduate from Hong Kong, who once had struggled with his homosexuality during his days in high school. This portraiture focused on his psychological growth from being closeted due to his fear of being judged by society and Asian traditions to eventually embracing his sexuality through images of him interacting with a bar of soap which symbolizes homosexuality and his own reflections in mirrors and glass that act as a symbol of the looking-glass self, an academic term from psychology on how we think we appear to others.

Joey is a photographer that specializes in 135 and 120mm film photography, particularly black and white and portrait photography. Lam is also a student currently studying psychiatric nursing at the Hong Kong Metropolitan University. Her studies and clinical work influence her a great interest in exploring the uniqueness and grotesqueness that exist in people and human connection through her photographic works.