Thirty-five Years 1982–2016 by Nancy Floyd

Nancy Floyd has taken a self-portrait nearly every day for over thirty years. Since 1982 when she began the project, Weathering Time, she has used a roll of film as a visual record of each month.

The resulting images slowly reveal changes in Floyd’s appearance during her life as well as shifts in her environment and family. This selection includes some of the artist’s favorite photographs made over a thirty-five-year span. 

The black rectangles represent the occasional lapses in her near-daily practice of self-portraiture, and here she uses them as a stand-in for certain years.

A layout of a month of her daily photographs, including black squares for missed days, can be seen in the background of her studio here.

Technological advances over the years can be seen in the backgrounds of the self-portraits. Oversize television sets are a feature in some of the earlier photographs.

Eventually a sleek computer screen can be seen in her studio in one of the more recent years.

Floyd's pets are frequently included in her photographs, often seen looking up attentively at her as she poses before the camera.

The different animals further emphasize the passage of time and how the makeup of families, both human and animal, inevitably must change.

Her process of returning and reconsidering her artworks over the years can be seen in the background of the images taken in her studio.

Prints are added, removed, and reorganized over time, revealing some of her working process.

Nancy Floyd (American, born 1956), Thirty-five Years 1982–2016, 2016, inkjet print, 51 × 48 inches, purchase with funds from Lucinda W. Bunnen for the Bunnen Collection, 2021.89. © Nancy Floyd.