'Imaging Selfs' deals with portraits of artists. It features black-and-white representations of 80 practitioners in the fields of the visual arts, photography, film, design, music, theatre, literature, dance and choreography in Malaysia. They are portraits of those who continue to practice and produce work. It is the most extensive exposition of artists' portraits, as a topic. [...]

Portraiture defines Soraya's photographic practice. This publication points to some of the beginnings of that practice and briefly examines aspects of its early development. The abiding preoccupation is with portraits and portraiture and especially with portraying artists. How, for instance, are rights of representation of the self asserted, authorized and realized? How is personhood, the individual desired, inscribed and received? Who are artists and how may they be pictured? These are among questions that propel thinking on Soraya's portraits of artists. In answering them, issues related to politics, culture, aesthetics, technology, inter-personal relationships and desire for self-representation are discussed. [...]' (Front inside sleeve, 'Imaging Selfs')

This publication accompanies the exhibition 'Imaging Selfs. Portraits by Soraya Yusof Talismail' held at Galeri Petronas, Kuala Lumpur from November 2008 to January 2009.