The Essential Problem in Self Portraiture

What is the essential problem in creating a self portrait?

A question which I have been asking myself over the past few weeks to decipher a decisive problem to guide my aesthetic choices and come fourth with a solution.

I believe the essential problem in creating a self portrait is the inability to fully capture the identity of oneself in a singular image. Our identity as human beings is constantly shifting, fluid and many sided, how can one possibly hope to capture all of this? Perhaps, it can be said that there is no longer a single 'core' self, being so fragmented and deconstructed as individuals in a modern society. Can one only hope to capture an instance of ones own identity? And not in its complete entirety?

With this idea in mind, I will continue to explore this essential problem in portraiture which will help guide my aesthetic choices for my own self portrait.