I always wanted to be an actor on a stage or in film.
Instead, I did what was expected of me by parents and society and pursued a more stable profession that ultimately provided me with the resources to pursue a photographic afterlife.
I then discovered that my earlier dream of acting was not beyond reach with the gentle guidance of self-portrait photographer, Arno Minkkinen, in a small Norwegian village that produced my first formal self-portrait, «The Innocent Sleep». That episode prompted an avalanche of «me» starring in innumerable roles and beginning to satisfy those early thespian desires
«Song of my Selves» is a project filled with cerebral dreamscapes. The black and white images are the intersection of what is real and imagined. They portray my attempt to decipher a queer life and an identity that has been gradually freed from the masks of constraint and fear. They are my personal human comedy grappling with the darker side of life’s occasional random options with grace and humor.
I use glass, mirrors, texture, and light to create a mood or obscure an emotion. The images both confront and retreat as one gazes intently beyond the surface. Masks, meditations, reflections, and the hint of a smile are the unspoken mechanisms that provide a clue to the heart of the matter of who I am. They may impede the truth that lies within…the truth that is the I…a series of visual songs of the various selves that define me.
About Michael S. Honegger
Michael S. Honegger is a visual artist born in Germany with roots in the United States and France. His practice as a fine art and documentary photographer explores the performative nature of self-portraiture, the complexities of memory and family and an investigation of the ironies of American culture with an expatriate’s eye. He received a B.A. in History & Spanish from Duke University, a M.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, and a Professional Certificate in Visual Arts from Maine Media College. He has exhibited his work in numerous juried group and solo shows throughout the United States and Europe. His documentary project on the refugee crisis on the island of Lesvos, Greece in 2015 was widely published in major European newspapers and by Amnesty International in their initial press release on the crisis. The Economist The Guardian, Newsweek, Lenscratch , All About Photo and The Eye of Photography have also published his images. Blow Up Press published his monograph, The Need to Know, in 2023. The book has been shortlisted by Les Rencontres de Arles, Photo España, the Athens Photo Festival and was awarded an Honorable Mention at Fotopublikacja 2024 in Lodz, Poland. It has recently been nominated for the Jan Michalski Prize for World Literature. He is the European Content Editor for Lenscratch and currently resides in Nice, France. [Official Website]
