'Treasure Box'

This was actually supposed to be a self-portrait. I painted and decorated a cardboard treasure box with old coins, crystals, dried flowers and my mother jewlery.
I photographed it on top of my bushes near where I lived at the time.

My professor made a crack in class that he thought, " It was funny that a treasure box would contain it's riches on the outside."
And he wondered out loud how this object could possibly be a self-portrait.
To which I replied,

"These objects are symbolic of the people and experiences I have encountered in my life, for they have made me a better person, for they are more rich than anything that any treasure box could ever hold."