Self-Portrait by Tatiana Dunenko

'Self-portrait' is a digital print series created by a generative drawing system using p5j.js. The series explores the responses of members of my audience to a description of their personal characteristics, based on the data of the astrological birth chart. The visualisation I have produced in response to my research intends communicate a contrast I perceived between the certainty of visual language and the frequent uncertainty
of individuals beliefs around astrology.
Despite the lack of empirical evidence for astrological claims, belief in astrology as a theory of person perception and self-perception remains highly popular. People usually turn to astrology when they are looking for clarity on their lives – it is a lens trough which we can experience and, possibly, process the changes and events that come our way. At certain times we arguably need something tangible to guide
us – such as horoscopes.
A horoscope, or birth chart, is an astrological chart representing the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets, astrological aspects and sensitive angles at the time of an event, such as the moment of a person's birth. Examining your birth chart satisfies what psychologists call a 'mirror need.' It refers to wanting to be
reflected by something other than yourself. Astrology
can give such confidence even to people who don't really 'believe' in it, but simply enjoy the practice and
get the thrill of the experience of self-identification. Radical self-acceptance is about how we feel and who we are and how we are constantly changing and reacting to circumstances. The goal of my project is to
paint a portrait of self-acceptance of personality in response to the astrological description. The series of portraits includes the results of a survey of four members of my audience who were born under the sun
sign of Leo.
The month of birth was not chosen by chance, on the basis of these portraits I want to show my audience how four different people born under the same sun sign have a different experience of radical self acceptance.