As many of my friends appreciate I’m camera shy. Partly it’s a desire for privacy, and partly it is because more photos makes my work more difficult. On top of that every time you take my photo, Facebook steals a bit of my soul.

On the 28th of October I’m giving a talk in Seoul, the home of uninhibited camera fiends*. I’m looking for a face stand-in, someone who can join the event who enjoys having their photo taken, and wouldn’t mind being tagged online as me. The audience will be in on it.

You can be aged 20 to 70, male or female, any ethnicity, frankly I don’t care how you look, as long as you’re comfortable with the process.

I deliver a few talks per year and depending on how this experiment goes, will probably look for a local face stand-in for those as well, so it’s unlikely that you’ll be stuck with being me for the rest of your life. If it works out I may be looking for a high resolution portrait for book covers and more formal media.

Along with the rest of the planet I’m trying to figure out what I’m comfortable being public and what I prefer to keep private. My work does require being present in public spaces in a world where people feel they have the right to a person’s image, and there are a number of places where I require a viable alternative to me. My goal is to gradually disappear as a recognisable photographed entity online replaced by, well lets see. I’m interesting to hear what you want to get out of it. It is difficult to predict how this will play out.

Based in Seoul? Interested? Ping info at janchipchase.com.

Related: signalling anonymity: Lets Agree That I Don’t Know You.

* Seoul is incidentally also the original home of the modern selca, the selfie on steriods. Where South Korea leads, the rest of the world followed.