Family Self-Portrait
A photographic exploration by Angelica Arbulu
In January 2011, Angelica Arbulu set out to document her family—herself included—every month for a year. What began as an act of self-preservation, a means to ensure her presence within the visual record of her own family, quickly evolved into something far greater. Over time, Family Self-Portrait became a meditation on the passage of time, a study of aging, and an exploration of the quiet gestures that, though often overlooked, ultimately define us.
By revisiting the family portrait—one of photography’s oldest traditions—Arbulu reveals its duality: a frozen moment that simultaneously encapsulates transformation. Her subjects remain constant, yet the world around them shifts, mirroring the imperceptible ways in which life reshapes us.
In 2021, the project took on a new form. Embracing collage—a medium that better reflects the fragmented and layered nature of contemporary life—Arbulu reimagined the family portrait as a composition of overlapping realities. Here, memory is not linear but constructed, assembled, and reassembled, much like the way we piece together our own histories.
Through Family Self-Portrait, Arbulu invites us to reconsider how we see ourselves and those closest to us—not just as figures in a frame, but as ever-evolving narratives woven through time.
