
Mirror Sequences
<p>In 1968, when I began taking self-portraits, I was concerned with the body: more specifically, with my body, and with my body in relation to my friends’ bodies. I had no other way to measure the world. Lacking an identity, or any way to judge my separation from others, I began with my physical self . . .<br>—AA Bronson, 2002</p> <p>Mirror Sequences is a self-portrait in which a convex mirror reflects and multiplies a fragmented body. The photograph was taken by AA Bronson and is credited to General Idea, an artist collective founded in 1969 by Bronson, Felix Partz (Canadian, 1945–1994), and Jorge Zontal (Italian, 1944–1994). General Idea would go on to create parodies of the art world and consumer culture and respond forcefully to the AIDS epidemic.</p>
Catalogue
- Year
- 1969
- Medium
- Gelatin silver print
- Dimensions
- Image: 25.4 × 20.3 cm (10 × 8 in.); Frame: 36.8 × 30.4 × 3.1 cm (14 1/2 × 12 × 1 1/4 in.)
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Artist
- General Idea
Artist

Photography
General Idea was a Canadian artist collective active from 1969 to 1994, known for provocative interventions in photography, video, and installation that engaged with mass media, consumer culture, and the AIDS crisis. Working across appropriation, performance, and institutional critique, the group produced iconic works including their reinvention of the Miss General Idea Pageant and large-scale photographic series that subverted advertising and fashion imagery. Their practice anticipated conceptual strategies that became central to contemporary art in the 1980s and 1990s.
Full artist profile →More
More by General Idea
Infe©ted Pharmacie
1994 · Gouache on chromogenic print
AIDS Ring
1993 · Multiple of sterling silver ring and velvet-covered box
AIDS (Project for the Journal of the American Medical Association)
1992 · Journal cover, offset printed
GENERI©
1992 · Multiple of printed mylar balloon
PLA©EBO (Helium)
1992 · Multiple of three custom-shaped mylar balloons
The Sequel: Shut the Fuck Up
1992 · Multiple of artist's book and VHS
Record
Verified by WattsOS- Artist
- General Idea
- Year
- 1969
- Medium
- Gelatin silver print
- Dimensions
- Image: 25.4 × 20.3 cm (10 × 8 in.); Frame: 36.8 × 30.4 × 3.1 cm (14 1/2 × 12 × 1 1/4 in.)
- Watts ID
- WW-1969-135182
Source
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Source
- aic
- Reference
- View at source
- Status
- verified





