Mirror fasting, a suit made of curtains and how to live a 28-hour day

Fine Art student Justin Sanderson will be showcasing some of his projects at the University of Northampton’s Degree Show, including Void___Self, which is the 16 months in which he avoided looking at his own reflection.

The 22-year-old decided to take on the mirror fasting challenge in order to eject any vanity from his life and to see if he could actually forget what his own face looked like.

He said: “As I tend to forget people’s faces quite easily, I wanted to see if I could forget my own face in that particular timeframe. It was a challenge having to avoid; mirrors, having my photo taken, and my reflection for so long. For the first few weeks I did keep catching glimpses of myself in shop windows but I soon got used to looking diagonally and walking into bathrooms with my head down.

“I found it to be very freeing not looking at my face for such a length of time, but it was quite emotional when I finally got to see myself again.”

Justin’s other projects include 28 Hour Day, where for four weeks he lived to the routine of a day with four extra hours in it so a week lasted only six days and Suit, which was made from a pair of old curtains that he is wearing every day for a year.

He said: “I feel that within my projects I am opposing the norms that we are used to, we follow them and accept them but I’m now taking a foot out of the stream of normality. It’s just a way to understand things better. I believe that anything can be art. My projects have been creative and I have learnt from them all. I call my work art and therefore it is art.”

Justin’s work will be featured along with other students from a variety of courses from the School of The Arts at this year’s Degree Show. This will be running from Saturday 11 to Sunday 19 June at the University’s Avenue Campus.

See the moment when Justin looked at his own reflection again for the first time in 16 months