The core of Samaras’ practice involves an exploration of the malleability and heightened expressive potential of his own physical form as a visible manifestation of his mental state. He has referred to his project as ‘creative psychodrama’.[i] The tiny format of the Photo-transformations seems almost unable to contain the energy within them, as Samaras’ body is distorted at times, painted with psychedelic coloured lights, and at others dissolved, overwhelmed by pattern.

[i] Quoted in Moa Goysdotter, Impure vision: American staged art photography of the 1970s, Nordic Academic Press, Lund, 2013, p 90.