SELF PORTRAIT

For the Selfies exhibition at Harrogate’s 108 Gallery, John supplied an image inspired by his childhood interest in stamp collecting…

Is that really your profile on those stamps?

Yes! This work was partly inspired by stamps within my father’s collection: an usual stamp block of King Edward VIII who abdicated in 1936, together with my favourite book from my teenage years, The Man Who Would Be King, by

Rudyard Kipling, about two British adventurers in India who become kings of Kafiristan. Growing up in 1970s England, stamp collecting seemed to be everywhere. These paper marvels allowed a young mind to be transported into a world of travel and adventure. I went to the hairdresser with an image of King Edward VIII and told him to match his hairstyle, then my friend took my portrait on my 5x4 and then I used Photoshop to make the stamp block.