Me

2001-ongoing
Digital video with sound

Me is the original internet time-lapse self-portrait video, inspiring a host of imitators and becoming a global meme after going viral in 2006.

In Me I put together self-portrait photos that I have taken every day since November 2001, and created an animated sequence that is the digital equivalent of a photo flip book. Though the subject in the photos is me, it could have been any woman, and the choice of using myself as the subject was due to the fact that I was the only person I could count on to be available for a photo every single day.

For me personally, the photos serve as a mirror in which I can examine my own image and possibly see myself as others see me. The act of taking and looking at my own photo is similar to what women do every day when they look into the mirror and assess their own appearance. In our culture we demand that images of women be youthful and attractive, but implicit in this sequence is that over time the woman in the photos will age. As in the vanitas tradition of still life painting, implicit in Me is the ephemerality of physical appearance and the inevitability of aging and mortality.

Me was an official Webby Awards nominee, was shown by Steve Jobs at the 2007 D5 tech conference, and is in the permanent collection of the Museum of the Moving Image, New York. At last counting, Me had over 9 million views.

Music by Nathan Melsted.