Selfies

More than just a self-portrait, the term ‘selfie’ is loaded with the concerns of our interconnected yet isolated technological age.
Lara Thomas
April 07, 2014

Overview

On the beach in Fiji, Friday night at Mexico, later at Golden Dawn, on the dance floor, less than fresh on the way home... Selfies, where would we be without them?

Probably living a wholesome and fulfilling life far from the confines of Facebook, if only we weren't so vain. Thanks to technological advances and the sheer unadulterated vanity of social media, usage of the word 'selfie' increased by a whopping 17,000% over the past year.

More than just a self-portrait, the term ‘selfie’ is loaded with the concerns of our interconnected yet isolated technological age. The selfie is the self-portrait of our digital world, an extension of our natural construction of the self that seeks a new level of self-awareness, validation, performance, and vulnerability through social media, and its associated likes, emoticons and retweets.

So what happens when you ask an artist to create a selfie? Explore the primarily painted outcomes in the exhibition Selfies. Artists include Stephen Allwood, Sarah Dolby, Richard McWhannell, John Madden, Joon-Hee Park, Peter James Smith, Dean Tercel, Rebecca Wallis, Peter Wichman, and Evan Woodruffe.

Information

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