Selfie-ism & Self-Portraiture – YEAR 2| RAYVENN SHALEIGHA D'CLARK| THEORETICAL

http://www.rlfossett.com/entries/2014/2/27/on-the-culture-of-selfieism

On the Culture of Selfieism

Here’s how wikipedia defines it:

A selfie is a type of self-portrait photograph, typically taken with a hand-held digital camera or camera phone. Selfies are often associated with social networking. They are often casual, are typically taken either with a camera held at arm’s length or in a mirror, and typically include either only the photographer or the photographer and as many people as can be in focus. Selfies taken that involve multiple people are known as “group selfies.”

One of the greatest criticisms of selfies (or “selfieism” as an article in the Guardian termed it) is that it is simply narcissism; it is a “look at me” mentality that has become pervasive across Western culture.
Narcissism itself is nothing new, we typically think of it as someone who is in love with themselves or who is perhaps vain or something like that, but narcissism goes much deeper than this. Narcissists are deeply concerned with their own self-preservation even as they crave the affirmation of others and often fear/hate the accomplishments of peers and rivals. It’s not simply that they are beholden to their own image in the mirror, it’s that they have come to believe in self-justification, in pursuing their own ends as the purpose of their life. Another way of saying it is that salvation is found in ourselves and this has been one of the chief cultural messages of the last sixty years. This message has struck pay dirt and as scholars in diverse fields have noted, our culture can now accurately be described as a culture of narcissists, a culture of never ending selfies.
…but the phenomenon of selfieism is really indicative of a kind of religion, of a kind of self-justification that is pitted against the grace that is offered in the Gospel.

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/apr/02/rise-and-rise-of-the-selfie

The rise and rise of the ‘selfie’

…the self-taken cameraphone photo – has become one of the cultural markers of our time
…naturally, the stratospheric rise of the selfie.
What is its allure? For one thing, it’s ridiculously easy to do. The photographs of my youth were deeply considered affairs – was it worth using up a 24-exposure FujiFilm roll on a photo that might not even be in focus? No such worries with a cameraphone. Selfies offer a modicum of control in a snap-happy era, where you’re in charge of the image produced, and all editorial decisions are yours (you can see why the celebs love ’em). They are also often silly, an immediate snapshot commemoration of the big and small events in our lives
Inevitably, we look to Instagram for the finest examples of selfie-ism.
…furthering of this terrible culture:
Look at enough and you start to realise the key to a good selfie – nonchalance.

Wiki

A selfie is a self-portrait photograph, typically taken with a digital camera or camera phone held in the hand or supported by a selfie stick.
Selfies are often shared on social networking services, usually flattering and made to appear casual.
Robert Cornelius, an American pioneer in photography, produced a daguerreotype of himself in 1839 which is also one of the first photographs of a person. Because the process was slow he was able to uncover the lens, run into the shot for a minute or more, and then replace the lens cap.

The debut of the portable Kodak Brownie box camera in 1900 led to photographic self-portraiture becoming a more widespread technique.
Photographic self-portraiture flourished in the 1970s when affordable instant cameras birthed a new medium of self-expression, capturing uncharacteristically personal insight into otherwise conservative individuals and allowing amateurs to learn photography with immediate results.
This practice transitioned naturally across to digital cameras as they supplanted film cameras around the turn of the millennium.
The first use of the word selfie in any paper or electronic medium appeared in an Australian internet forum on 13 September 2002.
The Sony Ericsson Z1010 (late 2003), introduced the concept of a front-facing camera, that had a sensor for selfies and video calls.

Popularity – History of Selfies

The term “selfie” was discussed by photographer Jim Krause in 2005, although photos in the selfie genre predate the widespread use of the term.
In the early 2000s, before Facebook became the dominant online social network, self-taken photographs were particularly common on MySpace. However, writer Kate Losse recounts that between 2006 and 2009 (when Facebook became more popular than MySpace), the “MySpace pic” became an indication of bad taste for users of the newer Facebook social network. Early Facebook portraits, in contrast, were usually well-focused and more formal, taken by others from distance.
According to Losse, improvements in design—especially the front-facing camera of the iPhone 4 (2010), mobile photo apps such as Instagram and Snapchat led to the resurgence of selfies in the early 2010s.

Buzz Aldrin (Space Selfie) 1966.

Initially popular with young people, selfies gained wider popularity over time.
By the end of 2012, Time magazine considered selfie one of the “top 10 buzzwords” of that year; although selfies had existed long before, it was in 2012 that the term “really hit the big time”.

In 2011 a crested black macaque pressed a trigger on a wildlife photographer’s camera, set up in an Indonesian jungle for that specific purpose; when the camera was later recovered it was found to contain hundreds of selfies, including one of a grinning female macaque. This incident set off an unusual debate about copyright – In 2016, a federal judge ruled that the monkey cannot own the copyright to the images.

Sociology

The appeal of selfies comes from how easy they are to create and share, and the control they give self-photographers over how they present themselves.
Many selfies are intended to present a flattering image of the person, especially to friends whom the photographer expects to be supportive.
…”those who frequently post photographs on Facebook risk damaging real-life relationships.”
Posting intentionally unattractive selfies has also become common in the early 2010s—in part for their humor value, but in some cases also to explore issues of body image or as a reaction against the perceived narcissism or over-sexualization of typical selfies

Gender roles, sexuality, and privacy

Selfies are popular among both genders. Sociologist Ben Agger describes the trend of selfies as “the male gaze gone viral”, with links it to the rise of “porn culture” and the idea that sexual attractiveness is the only way in which a woman can make herself visible – leading to issues of ‘revenge porn’.
Nonetheless, some feminists view selfies as a subversive form of self-expression that narrates one’s own view of desirability.
In this sense, selfies can be empowering and offer a way of actively asserting agency.
In 2013 in the blog Jezebel, author Erin Gloria Ryan criticized selfies, stating that their intent of getting positive comments and “likes”, reinforce the “notion that the most valuable thing [a young woman] has to offer the world is her looks.”
The Jezebel post provoked commentary on Twitter from users arguing that selfies could empower women by promoting different standards of beauty, leading to the adoption of the hashtag#feministselfie.
Media critic Jennifer Pozner saw selfies as particularly powerful for women and girls who did not see themselves portrayed in mainstream media.

Psychology and neuroscience

…selfies by non-professional photographers show a slight bias for showing the left cheek of the selfie-taker. This is similar to what has been observed for portraits by professional painters from many different historical periods and styles, indicating that the left cheek bias may be rooted in asymmetries of brain lateralization that are well documented within cognitive neuroscience.
In April 2014; brought several scholarly publications linking excessive selfie posting with body dysmorphic disorder.
Psychological studies conducted in 2015 among social media users suggest that there is a relationship between selfie-posting behaviors and narcissism. The link between number of selfies posted online and narcissism was stronger among men than women.

How selfies became a global phenomenon – The smartphone self-portrait or ‘selfie’ has established itself a form of self-expression. Is it a harmless fad or a dangerous sign of western society’s growing narcissism?

It starts with a certain angle; the pose is important.
This, then, is the selfie: the self-portrait of the digital age.

We are all at it.

Reality TV star Kim Kardashian overshares

The trend has even reached outer space

“The selfie is revolutionising how we gather autobiographical information about ourselves and our friends – says Dr Mariann Hardey,

“It’s about continuously rewriting yourself. It’s an extension of our natural construction of self. It’s about presenting yourself in the best way … [similar to] when women put on makeup or men who bodybuild to look a certain way: it’s an aspect of performance that’s about knowing yourself and being vulnerable.”
Although photographic self-portraits have been around since 1839, it was not until the invention of the compact digital camera that the selfie boomed in popularity.
There was some experimentation with the selfie in the 1970s – most notably by Andy Warhol – when the Polaroid camera came of age and freed amateur photographers from the tyranny of the darkroom. But film was expensive and it wasn’t until the advent of digital that photographs became truly instantaneous.
The fact that we no longer had to traipse to our local chemist to develop a roll of holiday snaps encouraged us to experiment – after all, on a digital camera, the image could be easily deleted if we didn’t like the results. A selfie could be done with the timer button or simply by holding the camera at arm’s length, if you didn’t mind the looming tunnel of flesh dog-earing one corner of the image.

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But it was the introduction of smartphones – most crucially the iPhone 4, which came along in 2010 with a front-facing camera – that made the selfie go viral.
“The rise of digital cameras and the iPhone coincided with the fact that there are a lot more single people around [than before].
To some, the selfie has become the ultimate symbol of the narcissistic age. Its instantaneous nature encourages superficiality – or so the argument goes.
One of the possible side-effects has been that we care more than ever before about how we appear and, as a consequence, social acceptance comes only when the outside world accepts the way we look, rather than endorsing the work we do or the way we behave off-camera.

John Paul Titlow has described selfie-sharing as: “a high school popularity contest on digital steroids”.

In an article published on the website ReadWrite earlier this year, Titlow argued that selfie users “are seeking some kind of approval from their peers and the larger community, which thanks to the internet is now effectively infinite”.
The preponderance of young women posing for selfies in a state of undress is a potentially worrying issue.

According to Gail Dines, (author of Pornland: How Porn Has Hijacked Our Sexuality):

“Because of porn culture, women have internalised that image of themselves. They self-objectify, which means they’re actually doing to themselves what the male gaze does to them.”

Dines argues that although men can “gain visibility” in a variety of ways, for women the predominant way to get attention is “f*ckability”. And it is true that a lot of female selfie aficionados take their visual vernacular directly from pornography (unwittingly or otherwise): the pouting mouth, the pressed-together cleavage, the rumpled bedclothes in the background hinting at opportunity.
Others, of course, argue it is a simple means of self-exploration.
“It’s almost like a visual diary,” It’s exploring your identity in digital form.

Do some feed off the social approval that a selfie can generate?

There is nothing new about this, of course. Human beings are social animals and have long been driven by the need for approval and self-affirmation – albeit on a smaller scale.
The desire for a pictorial representation of the self goes all the way back to early handprint paintings on cave walls more than 4,000 years ago.

In a fast-paced world of ever-changing technology, it could be argued that the selfie is simply a natural evolution of those hands dipped in paint.

“As with so many ‘new trends’, this one has a fairly distinguished prehistory,” – Geoff Dyer.
“In 1925 DH Lawrence was bemoaning the way that ‘each of us has a complete Kodak idea of himself’.
This new phenomenon of the selfie has already been turned into a work of art which is also a sort of visual essay
The popularity of the selfie is, says Mariann Hardey, “an extension of how we live and learn about each other” and a way of imparting necessary information about who we are.
The idea that young women are self-objectifying by posing semi-pornographically for selfies is, she believes, a dangerous one.
A selfie can, in some respects, be a more authentic representation of beauty than other media images.

In an article for Psychology Today published earlier this year, Sarah J Gervais, wrote that: “Instagram (and other social media) has allowed the public to reclaim photography as a source of empowerment… [it] offers a quiet resistance to the barrage of perfect images that we face each day. Rather than being bombarded with those creations… we can look through our Instagram feed and see images of real people – with beautiful diversity.

The key is the idea of “manageable reality”: The paradox at the heart of the selfie is that it masquerades as a “candid” shot, taken without access to airbrushing or post-production, but in fact, a carefully posed selfie, edited with all the right filters, is a far more appealing prospect than a snatched paparazzo shot taken from a deliberately unflattering angle.
“It’s about self-exposure and control,” says artist Simon Foxall, whose work questions the parameters of individuality and self-expression. “A selfie blurs the line between ‘reality’ and the performance of a fantasy self, so one collapses into the other.”
“People like the control selfies give them”
In some ways, of course, the notion of control is disingenuous: once a selfie is posted online, it is out there for public delectation. Future employers can see it. Marketers can use it. A resentful former lover could exploit it.
You can use digital technology to manipulate your own image as much as you like. But the truth about selfies is that once they are online, you can never control how other people see you.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidsturt/2014/04/29/the-selfie-mental-disorder-or-insight-to-getting-better-results/#106762136aba

The ‘Selfie’: Mental Disorder Or Insight To Getting Better Results?

The news was unbelievable. It spread like wildfire through social media, instantly becoming a Facebook, LinkedIn LNKD +4.70% and Twitter phenomenon. It exemplified what news organizations, advertisers, and companies had chased for so long—“going viral.” What was it? It was an announcement that the American Psychiatric Association (APA) had officially classified taking ‘Selfies’ as a mental disorder. In fact, the announcement also stated that the APA also claimed to name the disorder ‘Selfitis.’
Unbelievable news? Yes, because it was apparently a hoax from Adobo Chronicles, a website who uses the tagline ‘up-to-date, unbelievable news.’ No mention of this supposed new ‘Sefitis’ disorder can be found on the APA website, and has not been confirmed by any credible source.
Of course, the story, and the validity of the hoax are undeniably amusing. But, what we found more interesting was the fact that the spoof (published March 31^st) became a viral phenomenon almost overnight. Why did so many people latch on to the notion, and share the presumed ‘news’ story without ever questioning whether or not it was valid? Basically, people loved hating ‘Selfies.’ Why?
Oxford officially named ‘Selfie’ the word of the year in 2013. And, although the word ‘Selfie’ might be popular to say, the concept of taking photos of ourselves seems to come with a perception of either narcissism, or, if nothing else, a sense of humor (one that mocks narcissism).
We actually found the viral nature of the hoax (and concept of the ‘Selfie’) so interesting that we scoured the internet to find data from a reputable organization about how many people are actually turned off by the notion of ‘Selfies.’ Of course, we couldn’t find any credible numbers. We simply found a lot of opinions. Nevertheless, we did find one statistic interesting. The PEW Research Center reported that 91% of teenagers have taken a ‘Selfie’, which might suggest a divided perspective between generations. However, we also know plenty of adults who regularly participate in the cultural trend as well. Still, why did people love the hoax so much, and what can we learn from it?
The cultural phenomenon of the ‘Selfie’ exposes a very basic human desire—to feel noticed, appreciated and recognized. And, although the ‘Selfie’ may not always elicit the most appropriate type of recognition (possibly why people love to hate it), receiving just a few likes from our Facebook or Instagram friends uncovers a foundational aspect of human psychology that can actually help drive results in the workplace—when people are recognized and feel appreciated, they repeat the behavior that was recognized.

Does the desire to be recognized and appreciated feel like a ‘mental disorder’ now?

Love ‘Selfies’ or hate them, this viral hoax gives us all insights that we can use. It reveals that A) there is a human desire to be recognized and appreciated, and B) we shouldn’t make those people closest to us ask for it.

In Art – Selfies as ‘The Self Portrait

A self-portrait is a representation of an artist that is drawn, painted, photographed, or sculpted by that artist.
Although self-portraits have been made since the earliest times, it is not until the Early Renaissance in the mid-15th century that artists can be frequently identified depicting themselves as either the main subject, or as important characters in their work.

With better and cheaper mirrors, and the advent of the panel portrait, many painters, sculptors and printmakers tried some form of self-portraiture. Portrait of a Man in a Turban by Jan van Eyck (above) of 1433 may well be the earliest known panel self-portrait.
He painted a separate portrait of his wife, and he belonged to the social group that had begun to commission portraits, already more common among wealthy Netherlanders than south of the Alps. The genre is venerable, but not until the Renaissance, with increased wealth and interest in the individual as a subject, did it become truly popular.

Pieter Claesz, Vanitas with Violin and Glass Ball, the artist is visible in the reflection, 1625.

Photo-portraits:

Three methods of obtaining photographic self-portraits are widespread.

One is photographing a reflection in the mirror.
The other photographing one’s self with the camera in an outstretched hand.
The final method involves a mounted camera, with use of timer or remote control shutter release.

Eleazar Langman photographed his reflection on the surface of a nickel-plated teapot.

Another method involves setting the camera or capture device upon a tripod, or surface. One might then set the camera’s timer, or use a remote controlled shutter release.

The speed of creating photographic self-portraits allowed for a range of images with more of a “play” atmosphere than traditional methods.
One such example is Frances Benjamin Johnson‘s Self-Portrait, c. 1896, an image which demonstrates the photo-portrait’s ability to play with gender roles.

Classification

Art critic Galina Vasilyeva-Shlyapina separates two basic forms of the self-portrait:

“professional” portraits, in which the artist is depicted at work,
“personal” portraits, which reveal moral and psychological features.

She also proposes a more detailed taxonomy:

the “insertable” self-portrait, where the artist inserts his or her own portrait into, for example, a group of characters related to some subject
(2) the “prestigious, or symbolic” self-portrait, where an artist depicts him- or herself in the guise of a historical person or religious hero
(3) the “group portrait” where artist is depicted with members of family or other real persons
(4) the “separate or natural” self-portrait, where the artist is depicted alone. However it might be thought these classes are rather rigid; many portraits manage to combine several of them.

With new media came a chance to create different kinds of self-portraits besides simply static painting or photographs. Many people, especially teens, use social networking sites to form their own personal identity on the internet.Still others use blogs or create personal web pages to create a space for self-expression and self-portraiture.

Diagnosing the self-portrait

Self-portrait of Egon Schiele, 1911

(depicting masturbation)

Self-portraits as a signal of mental illness – give a unique possibility to physicians for investigating self-perception in people with psychological, psychiatric or neurologic disturbances.

Self-promotion

self-portraits to advertise himself as an artist
Rembrandt made his living principally from portrait-painting during his most successful period, like Van Dyck and Joshua Reynolds,

Storytelling:

Self-portrait as David with the head of Goliath – Johan Zoffany

The self-portraits of many Contemporary artists and Modernists often are characterized by a strong sense of narrative, often but not strictly limited to vignettes from the artists life-story.
Artists include: Diego Velázquez, (in his painting Las Meninas), Rembrandt Van Rijn, Jan de Bray, Gustave Courbet, Vincent van Gogh, and Paul Gauguin other artists whose self-portraits reveal complex narratives include Pierre Bonnard, Marc Chagall, Lucian Freud, Arshile Gorky, Alice Neel, Pablo Picasso, Lucas Samaras, Jenny Saville, Cindy Sherman, Andy Warhol and Gilbert and George.

Mirrors and poses:

Las Meninas, painted in 1656, shows Diego Velázquez (working at the easel to the left)

The self-portrait supposes in theory the use of a mirror; mirrors used were convex, introducing deformations that the artist sometimes preserved.

A painting by Parmigianino in 1524 Self-portrait in a mirror (above), demonstrates the phenomenon. Mirrors permit surprising compositions like the Triple self-portrait by Johannes Gumpp (1646) – below – or more recently that of Salvador Dalí shown from the back painting his wife, Gala (1972–73) – below.

Prolific modern self-portraitists

Vincent van Gogh, Self Portrait, dedicated to Gauguin, 1888

One of the most famous and most prolific of self-portraitists was Vincent van Gogh, who drew and painted himself more than 43 times between 1886 and 1889.
The many self-portraits of Egon Schiele set new standards of openness, or perhaps exhibitionism, representing him naked in many positions, sometimes masturbating or with an erection, as in Eros (1911).

Stanley Spencer was to follow somewhat in this vein.

Max Beckmann was a prolific painter of self-portraits as was Edvard Munch who made great numbers of self-portrait paintings (70), prints (20) and drawings or watercolours (over 100) throughout his life, many showing him being badly treated by life, and especially by women.

Obsessively using the self-portrait as a personal and introspective artistic expression was Horst Janssen, who produced hundreds of self-portraits depicting him a wide range of contexts most notably in relation to sickness, moodyness and death.

Frida Kahlo, who following a terrible accident spent many years bedridden, with only herself for a model, was another painter whose self-portraits depict great pain, in her case physical as well as mental. Her 55-odd self-portraits include many of herself from the waist up, and also some nightmarish representations which symbolize her physical sufferings.

Throughout his long career, Pablo Picasso often used self-portraits to depict himself in the many different guises, disguises and incarnations of his autobiographical artistic persona.
Often Picasso’s self-portraits depicted and revealed complicated psychological insights, both personal and profound about the inner state and well being of the artist.

Another artist who painted interestingly personal and revealing self-portraits throughout his career was Pierre Bonnard.
Bonnard also painted dozens of portraits of his wife Marthe throughout her life as well.

Self-Portrait of Van Gogh with head bandaged, after he (debatedly) cut off part of his ear.

Rembrandt and the 17th century in Northern Europe

In the 17th century, Flemish and Dutch artists painted themselves far more often; Mary Beale, Anthony van Dyck and Peter Paul Rubens gave us numerous images of themselves,
Women: This practice was especially common for women artists, whose inclusion of their families was often a deliberate attempt to mitigate criticism of their profession causing distraction from their “natural role” as mothers.
Rembrandt was the most frequent self-portraitist, at least until the self-obsessed modern period. At one time about ninety paintings were counted as Rembrandt self-portraits.

After Rembrandt

Thereafter, one can say that most significant painters left us at least one self-portrait, even after the decline of the painted portrait with the arrival of photography.
Gustave Courbet (see below) was perhaps the most creative self-portraitist of the 19th century, and The Artist’s studio and Bonjour, Monsieur Courbet are perhaps the largest self-portraits ever painted. Both contain many figures, but are firmly centred on the heroic figure of the artist.

Bonjour Monsieur Courbet

The Artists Studio

Albrecht Dürer was an artist highly conscious of his public image and reputation, whose main income came from his old master prints, all containing his famous monogram, which were sold throughout Europe.
He probably depicted himself more often than any artist before him, producing at least twelve images, including three oil portraits, and figures in four altarpieces.

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