The Death of Jo attempts a dismantling of self portraiture by forcing a distance between the photographer and her ‘self’. Abject ephemera were photographed; written text invade the photograph and surround the bodily remnants. Participants were shown the photographs and asked to write a response in first-person narrative. By emotionally inhabiting and thus, activating the photograph, the ‘self’ originally captured shifts. Finally, using my own hand to inscribe others’ words onto the photo, I further conflate the exchange of spectator and self.