Self-Portrait Under Social Pressure (2026) Original Mixed-media Painting by Annabelle Amory

Self-Portrait Under Social Pressure, collage and acrylic on canvas, 50 x 70 cm, 2026

This self-portrait isn't really a self-portrait. But it's kind of like one. It's me, but at the same time, it isn't me. The female figure is composed of things that are part of my current life: video games, painting, reading, time spent with my cat. She stands upright amidst hands that try to reach her and take hold of her: this is social pressure. Children, a car, a house, and money (through work) are the essential elements of the Western adult's life. It's a bit like the starter kit of social norms. A starter kit that doesn't interest me at all, but which often reminds me of its presence in conversations, injunctions, criticisms, and remarks. So, when are you having children? When are you going to find a real job? You still don't have your driver's license? But you're not going to be a renter your whole life! Except that what interests me most right now, at almost 38 years old, is figuring out how to catch a scalloped carp in Animal Crossing, how to catch Eevee in Pokemon Arceus, which Stephen King novel I'll be able to read next, and whether this painting would look better on a 30 x 30 or 40 x 40 canvas... And that's perfectly fine.

Support: Canvas on a stretched frame, bought secondhand
Paper: Mille Bornes cards, Monopoly cards, old Greek banknotes, "Rêves" magazine from the 60s, Pokemon cards, Alice in Wonderland, a reproduction of a Hopper painting, Tomb Raider visuals, a list of authors.

The canvas is varnished and equipped with a hanging system.

Materials used:

Paper and Acrylic on canvas

Details:

• Mixed-media painting on Canvas
• One of a kind artwork
• Size: 70 x 50 x 2cm (unframed)
• Ready to hang
• Signed on the front
• Style: Collage
• Subject: People and portraits