Installations and Self-Portraits is at first a series of disparate images, pictures that appear as self-indulgent photographs made by an artist seeking her voice. Upon closer examination, you begin to see and feel that these photographs begin to form threads of consistency, themes, recurring metaphors, and tableaus that remind one of dreams had while in the depths of a high fever. In reality they are her self-portraits. She interprets seeing herself as if from the point of view of a third person.

We see a woman jumping, flying, dancing, crouching, and standing in pools of light within rich textures. But this is not what these photographs are about, nor what this book is about. We aren’t that interested in the abandoned buildings with the crumbling walls. Instead we gaze upon the shadows within each photograph and become transfixed by the layers of symbols throughout the picture. What are we to think of the scissors suspended in mid-air or the saw blade hanging over the reclining semi-nude figure, or the floating feathers, or the deliberate placing of tree branches as if they grew naturally in this abandoned building? Each one of these photographs is a peek into the inner workings of McDonald. Yes, they are very deliberate, but that is what makes them intriguing. Each photograph is a moment in time of her installations that she places herself into. They are documents of her performances and a record of her life. These are very courageous images. McDonald bares her soul to us while at the same time providing images that are both unique and absorbing. We cannot help ourselves but to stare into her world and feel her dramas.

As a book the photographs succeed as a collection of McDonald’s body of work. The book is not specifically sequenced to tell her story; instead the photographs are arranged as individual and isolated images that when viewed in their entirety becomes a portrait of Anne Arden McDonald. The editing of the book needs more attention to the serial arrangement of the images to create a more cohesive context for the photographs. Perhaps creating chapters that reinforce the photographs would enhance the strength of the images. However this does not distract from the impact of these photographs or the skill of McDonald’s artistry.

The forty duotone reproductions in this book are of superb quality with rich tonal values. The large size (13” x 12”) of the book displays the photographs in a fashion that enables the viewer to be completely engaged with each of the self-portraits.
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