What is a Self Portrait?

For the second semester we were expected to come up with our own idea rather than following an outline given to us by our professors.  We had to write a short brief explaining what we plan to be working on throughout this semester.  This is my second semester brief:

What is a Self Portrait?

I have recently been thinking a lot about what can and what cannot be classified as a self portrait.  What are the factors that determine this classification?  I have realized over the years that I somehow subconsciously add myself into most of my work, if not all; is this something that most artists do?  Does that make each of these pieces a self portrait?  If so is it possible to create something that is not a self portrait?  These are some of the questions I want to explore throughout this semester. 

I will try to answer these questions over the duration of this semester by creating at least one self portrait each day.  I will be noting the music I was listening to while working on these “one a day” pieces, and also key points of the day, and what was on my mind.  I also plan on reading anything I can find on what makes a self portrait.   I want to learn the boundaries of the self portrait and see if I can push these borders a bit.  This may turn out to be a self discovery mission.  

I will be using these “one a day” pieces to steer the direction of my finished piece or pieces.  The media I plan on using for this project is drawing, painting, text, photography and video.