Self-Portrait 1980

Editor: Here we have Sir Terry Frost's "Self-Portrait," located in the Tate Collections. It's a fairly small print, all in black lines. What emotional or psychological symbols do you see conveyed through this simple imagery? Curator: It's interesting you call it simple. Look at the lines – erratic, almost frantic, yet forming a recognizable face. The moustache, for instance, reads like a symbolic anchor for identity; the very notion of 'self' being almost obsessively captured. Does it read as confident or vulnerable to you? Editor: I see a bit of both, actually. The eyes look quite intense. Curator: Indeed. And how do those lines echo the visual language of his abstract works? It's as if his inner and outer worlds are merging, a visual record of the psyche. Editor: So, even in a simple self-portrait, Frost is exploring the same themes of identity and perception? Curator: Precisely. It reveals a continuous thread of self-examination across his oeuvre. A potent reminder of the power of symbolic representation.