Okay story time! So usually I only shoot a self portrait when I have a very specific concept in mind because I find them really difficult to make. The genesis of this one actually started with Charli XCX. When I got the call to shoot Charli from @gayletter I was on my computer concepting some ideas and my iMac started wheezing in its old age. I started laughing that the image of failure and age is a spinning rainbow wheel (happy pride) and thought it could be such a funny symbol to have her holding. I printed and cut these objects and brought them to the shoot but when she came out of hair and makeup and wardrobe looking absolutely stunning I instantly scrapped it. It felt like the rainbow wheel thing was about me, not her. So when I was at my parents house in the Bay Area months later I decided to do the rainbow self portrait. My mom came along as my "assistant" to watch the process and stand in for a couple of lighting tests. Afterwards I was going to give up on this cursed rainbow wheel thing because it wasn't working until I photoshopped me and my mom's faces together. So this picture is a weird pastiche. It's me and my mom, smashed together, photographed in my hometown, surrounded by gay aging and collapse. Enjoy!! Self Portrait 24 (Mom and I Together), 2022 now on view at David Lewis Gallery