As the sixth installment of my project on masculinity dealt in part with athletism and the ideas of ideal man, I also made an inverted version of Gérôme's idealized orientalist image of a young woman. Over the years I have made several more or less subtle, more or less faithful art historical references in my auto-portraiture work.

     The hero endeavours to maintain control over his body and mind, he wants to be beautiful and admired. In admiring art and in looking at himself through the eyes of others, the hero strives to strike a balance between desires and fears and tries to attain something impossible. He is confused by the claim of a sound mind in a sound body.

     The hero is enjoying the sun on warm rocks, and is thinking about the image he makes and his predecessors. He faces the rising sun and watches the changing light. Standing in the evening sun, he feels sadness.