In fact, David Hockney suggested that you are not a real artist unless you do self-portraits.

Some artists are motivated by ego, others are more practical and simply find themselves as readily available models.

For Andrew Southall it began as an exercise in “getting proportions right”.

Four years later, a selection of his self-portraits are now on show at the La Trobe University Visual Arts Centre - and his skill is indisputable.

In 1917 a great exponent of the genre, Kathe Kollwitz mused “I want to develop myself, that is to unfold… what is this real self? What do I want of life, and what have I wanted?”

Now able to accurately record every superficial line and wrinkle, Southall too, is introspective.

In his brave self-examination, he teaches us to be observant and in looking at him, we scrutinise ourselves.