Media In Our Image

Self-Representation in an Expanded Field. From Self-Portraiture to Selfie, Contemporary Art in the Social Media Age, 2021

The image-related self-thematization using digital communication technologies is a central cultural pattern of postmodern society. Considering these assumptions, this paper raises the question of whether, and in what way, practices of identity construction are changing, as part of the development of new digital and interactive media. The continuous change in media, society and technology in present visual cultures has led to the perception that images should be seen as an essential contribution to the formation of society and subjectivity. Along these lines, this submission analyses selfies as formats of communication and clarifies media-specific aspects of online communication. In this context, the paper focuses on the recurring features of selfies on the level of conventions of visual aesthetics, semantic encodings, media dispositives and stereotypical structures of interaction. With this perspective, it is possible to acquire a more detailed understanding of this relationship once it becomes clear in which way the visual practice and the aesthetics of photographic self-representation collaborate with the networking culture of social media.

Contra Costa College. California, 2023

In the digital age, the act of taking selfies has evolved into a complex and multifaceted form of self-expression, akin to the historical tradition of self-portraiture. While psychologist Jean Twenge argues that selfies can promote narcissism, their responsible use can foster self-esteem and personal creativity. Selfies, like the intricate self-portraits of past artists, allow individuals to capture and convey their identities, emotions, and experiences through a modern lens. This digital self-representation, enhanced by the accessibility of social media, transforms selfies into a legitimate art form, bridging personal narratives with broader cultural and social contexts. By meticulously selecting environments, lighting, and filters, individuals use selfies to document significant moments and engage in a deeper exploration of self, fostering connections and preserving memories. In this light, selfies emerge as intimate time capsules, embodying the enduring legacy of artistic expression and the contemporary quest for identity and belonging.

Digital technology has revolutionized contemporary society. Mobile devices are the main medium through which individuals understand and experience the world around them. Selfies are representative of this societal shift. They are an entirely new medium, and one that must be understood within the context of digital media. The selfie offers a useful lens through which to understand the broader impact of digital media on society and our sense of self. My MRP is a exploration of the relationship between technology, identity, and self-expression in the digital age. The selfie is located at the intersection of many complicated forces: the relationship between the body and technology, the smartphone as mode of both archive and exhibition, social media as location of identity formation, and the relationship between seeing and being seen. Selfies function as a mirror through which we understand ourselves and each other. Selfies are about projecting a desired identity to the world — you are creating an image of who you are, and how you wish to be perceived. My paper will take up issues of visual culture, media theory, structuralism, and post- structuralism to explore these fascinating intersections. I have combined the object-oriented theory of Marshall McLuhan and Vilém Flusser with the cultural studies of Stuart Hall and Michel Foucault in order to situate the selfie within its broader socio-cultural meaning. Feminist theory is crucial to my project of understanding the selfie as a radical act of self-expression. I argue that the selfie’s largely negative reception in popular culture reveals a deeply entrenched cultural misogyny that punishes women for taking up space in public.

Visual Communication, 2016

2016

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2015

Mobile devices can instantly create and distribute a digital self-portrait, or 'selfie' across a myriad of social networks. The word 'selfie' summarises a particular kind of cultural and photographic practice that is motivated by a combination of the agency and aspirational biases of the selfie producer and where they prefer to share on social networks. With a specific focus on gendered selfie production, this paper aims to explore the relevant theories for gender identity within online communities in which selfies are shared. From a theoretical starting point, firstly this paper employs the poststructuralist theories (Deleuze and Guattari, 1980) as interpretative filters for a decisive understanding of the inner "rhizome" of an individual's ideal of "becoming". This paper argues that the embodied human subject is transformed by self-exploration with the production and distribution of their selfies.

ScholarWorks, 2020

As social relations increasingly take on the market logic of neoliberalism, the question of "reality" becomes increasingly passé. There is no longer a "real," nor a "truth," only markets. These "face-tuned" selfies become advertisements; but who or what is the product? Vulnerability and self-image inform this series of oil paintings, particularly those of women. Social media has capitalized on and commodified these experiences, and my work establishes a dialogue between the "selfie" and its art historical forebear, the idealized female portrait. The latest trend in a long series of image editing tools is a suite of apps intended for "face tuning," the resultant images embodying a discordant ambiguity- they're not meant to represent "reality," nor are they meant to be a conspicuous departure from it. The accumulation of multiple portraits, each vaguely similar with homogenized features, subdued backgrounds, and distant gazes, accentuates this dissonance. This phenomenon transforms users into "aesthetic entrepreneurs," both boss and worker, brand manager and product alike, under this new social media market paradigm. My work examines the rise of "nano-surveillance" of self-image and its resulting self-exploitation specific to women; idealized beauty standards are imposed through the use of filters, air-brushed skin, plumped lips, enlarged eyes, and slimmed features. I translate these facets of the "tuned" selfie into larger-than-life paintings; the square format, grid-like installation, and frustratingly similar facial features mimic the feed found on social media platforms, while the repetition of flat paintwork, hard edges, and a muted palette represent the de-individualizing of aesthetic identity.

2018

Recently published photography training manuals focus attention on the diversifying outlets of social media, ranging from the use of Twitter by the so-called citizen journalists to Instagram by artists and entrepreneurs. This chapter looks at shifting gender dynamics in this context while exploring the trend towards relationality now defining digital labour. The formula of ‘love-work’ compounds the previously neglected concerns of the amateur with professional values and expresses the new terms of social media practice as it promises to mitigate historical losses, especially those relating to the domestic and familial concerns of women, albeit in a potentially melancholic way. This illuminates how the online exchange of images through social networks rearticulates precarious and unstructured forms of labour hitherto associated with women’s work.

Comunicación y Género

The human-computer interaction works in a Mixed Realty (MR), and the Facebook Profile Picture is one such function of MR (Rajan, 2018). Facebook users engage with profile pictures, which is the first component of a user's Facebook profile. This study shows that millennial women (between the ages of 18 and 25) curate and commodify (Kasch, 2013) their Facebook self-presentations. The aim of these millennial women is to have a unique digital identity by consciously showcasing elements like attractiveness, lifestyle, and clothing through profile pictures. Images are often used for gaining a sense of celebrity status evoked through user's interactions (likes, comments, etc.) with these images. In such social media spaces, women feel pressured to represent themselves as 'hot' or 'sexy' in order to gain attention for the representation of self. Women are also conscious that their images evoke a range of affect amongst their users. This includes feelings of sexual arousal and the users' attempt to communicate this through sexually explicit messages (verbal/visual). Such affect, informed by patriarchy, predetermines the patterns of self-presentation and perception of female bodies . This study uses a combination of in-depth, qualitative interviews and self-assessment survey questionnaires to understand the curation behind the profile picture of millennial women in Bangalore. This study conducted survey of 117 millennial women between 18 and 25 years of age in Bangalore. This paper studies the process behind women's choices of images, the purposes they are consciously aimed at, and the affect-inducing power of engagement anticipated with these images. A modified version of framework of Gendered Advertisements is used to analyze millennial women's Facebook profile pictures. This study observed that women apply elaborate processes to achieve the 'perfect' profile picture. The profile picture serves multiple purpose for the user including the assertion of one's class, commodification of the self and curating the self based on societal expectations. These millennial women were often aware that these images are embedded in patriarchy, and evoke affective response from their users.

Millions of people around the world today use digital tools and platforms to create and share sophisticated cultural artifacts. This book focuses on one such platform: Instagram. It places Instagram image culture within a rich cultural and historical context, including histories of photography, cinema, graphic design, as well as contemporary social media, design trends, music video, and k-pop. At the same it uses Instagram as a window into the identities of a young global generation connected by common social media platforms, cultural sensibilities, and visual aesthetics. My book is an experiment to see how we can combine traditional “qualitative” approaches of media theory and art history with quantitative analysis that uses “big cultural data” and computational methods. I am drawing on the analysis of 15 million images shared on Instagram in 16 global cities during 2012–2015 carried out in our Cultural Analytics Lab, publications from many other labs, my own informal observations from using Instagram for five years, and my direct observations of mobile phone photography cultures during 2010–2015 in 58 cities located in 31 countries.