self-portrait

“This self-portrait dates from March 1962. I was coming out of a mission, for which I was the radio-operator, in the bled, in the Djurdjura. I had been warned by some of my fellow-soldiers from the base. When I got out of the jeep, I knew I was about to have a hard time, a hard time that could last for all my life. I got there, saw a jeep from the military police, I immediately ran into our room. My fellow-soldiers had already hidden my notes, and some of my objects – soldiers’ solidarity. I only had the time, the instinct to go in front of the mirror of the room and photograph myself in it. It was almost a self-portrait before civilian death. I thought I would disappear from civilian life into an Inferno of an unknown kind. Immediately afterwards, I was arrested, charged, and imprisoned.” Pierre Guyotat