"Self- Portrait" – A Study of the 'Self':

the contents that were formed from the analysis and the hermeneutic process as an exegesis, but unlike
her research here the two parts appear together when the exegesis appears as an interpretation of the
text as well as its original meaning.
In my research, interpretation is not only intended to tell the story that exists in the painting, or hidden in
it. Here the interpretative process, its existence within, the experience of obtaining meanings, is
presented as a valued tool on its own. My research differs from Berridge's in that it does not stress, nor
is it interested in the biographical story. The biographical story is kind of fact for which a way must be
found, a way to extricate it from the painting. It is mainly the stimulus to the process that is occupied in
extracting the story, which means that the significance is the producing the story, ways of discovering it
and creating it. I wish to present a way in which the subject creates materials out of his own being, in a
unique way, and later continues the creating process while discovering the materials of him, encounters,
exposes and reconstructs them. This is a process of constructing one's self from given materials
(Strenger, 1999) (see chapter 11 – Discussion). In this way the 'chain of observations' from which the
"chain of interpretations" derived expresses in this research the self- investigation that expresses self-
development and also leads to it.
The emphasis in my research is on interpretation. That is the reason that I chose the intertextual
approach (more on this, and the reasons for the choice can be found in chapter 5 – Methodology).
Intertextuality is both a phenomenon and an interpretative approach (Azulay, 2006). The phenomenon
itself is found in my research in the 'central unit of analysis' (data A1 (a) – chapter 6) which is also
defined as the 'Book-Object'; 'Artist- Book; Readymade ; Bricolage (see chapter 6 – The 'Book –
Object'). As an analysing and interpreting research approach it joins the second side of the hermeneutic
investigation model here. Combining and incorporating this approach makes it possible to expand the
interpretation, express the creative character of the research (research based on art), burrow into and
investigate the text. In my research, the text replaces the man; hence the assumption that just as man
has a consciousness and a sub consciousness, and is made from the manifest and the concealed, so is
the text (Kristeva, 1989; Azulay, 2006). This approach enables one to expose the inner, hidden, parts of
the text while holding a dialogue between the textual, intertextual and interdisciplinary. In this way I
continue the metaphoric spirit that is typical of this research. Just as the act of painting a portrait is a
metaphor of the investigation of the 'self' and development, and as the painting itself is a metaphor of
personal, subconscious contents, so the intertextual interpretative process is a metaphor for
investigation of the 'self'. Peeling off layers of the text is similar to the psychoanalytic process. Both can
be compared to an archaeological mound.
This approach places the interpreter and the interpretation in the centre. The text flirts with its reader
(Barthes, 2007); the author has died (ibid. and 2005). The text depends on the reader's benevolence
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