Abstract
This project examines how lived experience shapes creative practice through a digital self-portrait inspired by The Wizard of Oz. Rather than positioning identity as subject matter alone, the work investigates how personal history informs visual decision-making, including posture, composition, colour, and symbolic environment. Using a creative practice research approach supported by autoethnographic reflection, the illustrated artefact and written exegesis operate as interconnected modes of inquiry. The project demonstrates how illustration can hold responsibility, emotional weight, and uncertainty without forcing resolution. It frames creative practice as a way of generating understanding, grounded in lived experience yet shaped through the viewer’s own interpretation.
Recommended Citation
Webster, Lana
(2026)
"There’s No Place Like Home: A Wizard of Oz Inspired Self-Portrait,"
Imaginings: creative practice and inquiry: Vol. 2:
Iss.
1, Article 12.
Available at:
https://creo.sae.edu.au/imaginings/vol2/iss1/12