Introduction

This chapter traces the emergence of different understandings of the term self in Western philosophy, providing a backdrop to the practice of self-portraiture that constitutes the core investigation of this study. Spanning over 2000 years in history, the chapter shows how the term self is distinct from its synonyms – character, identity, person – and interprets it instead through notions of performativity and presence, looking into how, when, where, and why processes of self-perception and self-representation take place.