Richly illustrated, the book is organised in five chapters that develop the themes of autobiography: the body, the use of disguise, the studio portrait and the photo album, and artistic performance. Work on national, sexual, racial, personal or artistic identity is fundamental to understanding many of the leading figures of contemporary photography. Intimate and introspective images, social or sexual provocations, refined dreamlike scenes in which innovative performances take shape: it shows how one of the oldest forms of art, the portrait and self-portrait, is still one of the most current and surprising artistic languages.