The UNP Top 20 Self-Portrait Photographers

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The UNP Top 20 Self-Portrait Photographers

10/07/2026

Every photographer has the possibility of making self-portraits, but to do so requires a willingness to accept our own physical reality. That acceptance is most often, in my experience, the beginning of a process of creative introspection and expression. I was aware of, perhaps the most obvious, photographers exploring this area, but my research in creating this list revealed an area of practice, that is dominated by women photographers making work that is based in social, political and economic concerns. It’s interesting work, that straddles the world’s of personal documentation and contemporary art practice, through visual discussions, concerning identity. As always, this is a personal list, presented in no particular order. I hope you find it as interesting to read, as I did in compiling it!

Cindy Sherman www.moma.org/artists/5392-cindy-sherman

Laura Zalenga https://laurazalenga.com

Alena Solomonova www.solomalena.com

Enid Crow www.enidcrow.com

Aimee McCrory https://aimeemccrory.com

Anne McDonald www.anneardenmcdonald.com

Chantal Convertini https://www.paeulini.com

Elina Brotherus www.elinabrotherus.com

Francesca Woodman https://gagosian.com/artists/francesca-woodman/

Brooke DiDonato www.brookedidonato.com

Flora Borsi www.floraborsi.com

Jennifer McClure www.jennifermcclure.com

Lee Friedlander https://fraenkelgallery.com/artists/lee-friedlander

Cecilia Di Paolo https://cecedipaolo.com

Claude Cahun www.moma.org/artists/8195-claude-cahun-lucy-schwob

Trish Morrissey https://trishmorrissey.com

Jo Spence www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/jo-spence-18272

Susana Moyaho https://www.instagram.com/susana_moyaho/?hl=en

Nancy Floyd https://www.instagram.com/nancyfloydartist/?hl=en-gb

Kathryn Rodrigues www.kathrynrodrigues.com

Dr.Grant Scott
After fifteen years art directing photography books and magazines such as Elle and Tatler, Scott began to work as a photographer for a number of advertising and editorial clients in 2000. Alongside his photographic career Scott has art directed numerous advertising campaigns, worked as a creative director at Sotheby’s, art directed foto8 magazine, founded his own photographic gallery, edited Professional Photographer magazine and launched his own title for photographers and filmmakers Hungry Eye. He founded the United Nations of Photography in 2012, and is now a Senior Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator: Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, and a BBC Radio contributor. Scott is the author of Professional Photography: The New Global Landscape Explained (Routledge 2014), The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Routledge 2015), New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography (Routledge 2019), What Does Photography Mean To You? (Bluecoat Press 2020) and Inside Vogue House: One building, seven magazines, sixty years of stories, (Orphans Publishing 2024). His photography has been published in At Home With The Makers of Style (Thames & Hudson 2006) and Crash Happy: A Night at The Bangers (Cafe Royal Books 2012). His film Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay was premiered in 2018.