JOANN LEE

Myth of the ‘Corinthian Maid’
“Butades, a potter of Sicyon, first formed likenesses in clay at Corinth, but was indebted to his daughter for the invention. The girl, being in love with a young man who was soon going from her into some remote country, traced out the lines of his face from his shadow on the wall by candle-light. Her father, filling up the lines with clay, formed a bust, and hardened it in the fire with the rest of his earthenware.”

Pliny the Elder, Natural History, xxxv.151

The project “Your (Self) Portrait” was inspired by the old story of ‘Butades’, or the ‘Origin of Painting’. I reconstructed the roles in the story into an interactive artwork using a Kinect sensor. Users can experience being audience, model, and painter — drawing themselves with their own gestures.

1. As the user appears in the space, a silhouette appears like a shadow on the screen.
2. A timer activates, and the silhouette is displayed as an outline after a certain time.
3. The user’s hands appear on screen, with a pen and an eraser on each hand.
4. The user can freely draw on their own or others’ silhouettes.
5. When the user matches their silhouette’s exact pose, they can move while drawing.
6. As the user leaves or moves away, all drawings disappear from the screen.