Self-Portraits Of An Intj Female

INTJ Female Self Portraits

INTJ is one of the 16 personality types in the Myers-Briggs personality profiles. INTJ is the rarest personality for woman. These woman make up about 0.8% of the population.

I would warn about buying into MBTI as the end all be all of personality types, but in general I strongly relate to many INTJ traits. However, at times I find myself deviating from INTJ stereotypes...my work in the arts is not considered typical INTJ behavior. Yet what I create does have strong ties to an INTJ experience.

My work is self-portraiture, it connects strongly with introversion as I do not have to work directly with anyone. The basis of my themes are self-reflection and creative expression.

I use intuition in the process of creation, I intuitively feel my way through the process and rely heavily on “hunches” and “gut feelings” of what I think will work well. This includes the symbolism, colors, themes and composition I should have.

Many cultures throughout history have believed that hair plays a role in having a strong intuition. That it acts like a antenna of sorts... For this reason I feature hair quite often in my work. As an INTJ I find the process of learning about and researching different beliefs very fascinating. The opportunity to learn and find obscure information and incorporate it into my work makes it rewarding.

If you read up on the INTJ personality you will probably eventually come across something that discusses INTJs and symbolism. For myself it is true that I think and perceive things in a visual and often symbolic manner. As a thinking type it almost seems counter-productive, but when you think about the popular the saying that “a picture is worth a thousand words” you can understand that much more information can be passed, processed, and interpreted from symbolism and images.

For these reasons I often use images of animals and nature in my work. World-wide and across all cultures animals and nature hold many symbolic meanings. They can change depending on which culture is viewing the image. For example owls have symbolic themes of wisdom, but also can be held as a bad omen.

Many of my images this year have butterfly elements. Butterflies are typically symbolic of transformation, hope, and cycles of life. 2018 has held many changes for me in my personal life, and in many ways I feel as though I have been reborn into a new phase. It has felt natural to include this element in so much of my work this year.

Another element that I have pulled frequently is that of air and flight, not just of butterflies, but other animals. Even the use of sky or space can create a theme of openness. I love the facet that freedom brings to an image, it also ties back to the changes I have felt in life. These changes have in ways felt like more freedom and independence.

Another common element of my images is water which is generally symbolic of emotions. While I am not a feeler-type, if you read a dream dictionary about water, it will tell you the state of the water reflects an emotional state. The calm water in my images is representative of my journey to inner peace, sometimes the water has actual reflections to represent looking within.

INTJs are not known for being overly emotional on the outside, but one of our biggest secrets is that we do have a rich emotional life inside, I feel like my imagery is just a peek at that. And probably the only peek anyone ever gets.

I'd love to know what your MBTI is and if you feel it resonates with you or maybe in which ways it doesn't fit you at all.

More info: vanessawildempress.wixsite.com