This wallpaper formed part of a wider installation by Mx. Justin Vivian Bond comprised of video, performance, text, prints, sculpture and watercolours at the Vitrine Gallery, London, 2015. The inspiration behind the design was a series of diptychs consisting of portraits of the model Karen Graham and Mx Bond blending to become one face. Karen Graham was the face of Estée Lauder Cosmetics from 1970 to 1985 and represents a form of mainstream feminine beauty which the artist described as “blank and perfect as the sphinx - only more modern and wearing LOTS of make-up”.
The artist developed a fascination with the model during adolescence when they were grappling with gender dysphoria. The title 'My Model / My Self' references a 1977 pop-psychology book by Nancy Friday called “My Mother My Self: The Daughter’s Search for Identity". This serves to highlight the disconnection which many trans people feel about their own childhoods, coupled wih the difficulty of fitting into traditional family structures. The design represents a quest to escape the gender binary through the survival mechanisms of imagination and self-creation.