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Thesis Info
- LABS ID
- 00822
- Thesis Title
- The Human Use of the Human Face: The Photographic Self-Portrait in the Age of the Selfie
- Author
- Karen ann Donnachie
- E-mail
- karenanndonnachie AT gmail.com
- 2nd Author
- 3rd Author
- Degree
- PhD (Art)
- Year
- 2017
- Number of Pages
- 348
- University
- Curtin University, Western Australia
- Thesis Supervisor
- Prof. David Hawkins
- Supervisor e-mail
- Other Supervisor(s)
- Prof. Julian Goddard, Prof. Christopher Crouch, Prof. Mihai Lazarescu, Dr. Susanna Castleden, Prof. Donal Fitzpatrick, Prof. Paul Thomas, Dr. Ann Schilo, Prof. John Freeman and Prof. Erik Champion
- Language(s) of Thesis
- English
- Department / Discipline
- School of Design & Art : Electronic art
- Copyright Ownership
- author
- Languages Familiar to Author
- French, Italian
- URL where full thesis can be found
- espace.curtin.edu.au/handle/20.500.11937/48541
- Keywords
- #selfie #postphotography #selfportrait #electronicart #speculativedesign #dataviz
- Abstract: 200-500 words
- This multidisciplinary practice-led thesis explores the phenomenon of the selfie (understood as a networked, vernacular, photographic self-portrait) in order to propose a new critical understanding of the effect this genre of image-making has on wider photographic self-portrait practice and photography in general. These explorations happen firstly through the creation of original digital and electronic artworks including speculative camera objects and installation; secondly through interviews with contemporary artists; and finally through the discussion of cultural and photographic theory. “The Human Use of the Human Face” depicts the selfie as more than a mere vernacular object or action and is not satisfied with the dismissal of the selfie as a direct remediation of the traditional self-portrait. Instead this thesis maps the complex, and sometimes controversial genre of amateur self-portraiture as it sits somewhere between performance, narcissism, social tic, intrinsic desire for self-projection and a possibly irrational quest for authenticity in the photographic image.
The selfie, through both its quantity and ubiquity, is contributing to the creation of an unprecedented, indexed, searchable and exponentially growing database of human self-portraiture, as the quantity of images tagged #selfie currently present in social networks easily overwhelms the entire aggregated and recorded history of portraiture known to man prior to 2005.1 In contrast to the recent commentary found in the mass media, that often describes the selfie as any combination of celebrity emulation, expression of vanity, sexual promise and self-indulgence—undoubtedly all potential traits of the selfie and worthy of concern—this research explores how the selfie has become a locus for discussions of subjectivity. Specifically, this research inserts notions of human affect, connectedness, belonging and being human into the discussion concerning the motivations behind, and social consequences of, the selfie in three areas: first, second and afterlife. Not only the artefact or surface of the image is addressed, but also the physical and social activity of the selfie.
The effect of the selfie on the artistic practice of the photographic self-portrait is an important thread of this research as the photographic/art criticism is lagging—in vocabulary as well as in theory—in the wake of the selfie. Prior to the twentyfirst century, the ‘self-portrait’ that appeared in art/cultural volumes and texts, naturally and universally inferred an artistic practice, (there was in fact no need for disambiguation), instead this thesis is now obliged to distinguish the ‘artist’s self-portrait’ from the selfie, which has gained the dominant position in discussions of self-portraiture. Finally, this research examines the privileged position the selfie holds inside a rapidly expanding and evolving social media ecology as it becomes both vehicle and tool, a symbol of personal, social, cultural and political identities.
This multidisciplinary, practice-led research, articulated across electronic, and post-internet art, experiments with and through the selfie, (ie. networked, vernacular, photographic self-portrait) in order to propose a new critical understanding of the genre’s effect on wider photographic self-portrait practice. Not satisfied with the dismissal of the selfie as a mere remediation, “The Human Use…” maps the selfie as a distinct, complex, controversial genre at the crossroads between performance, narcissism, social tic, self-projection and a possibly irrational quest for authenticity in the photographic image.
In the face of mass-media’s sensationalist depiction of the selfie as product of celebrity emulation, vanity, sexual promise and self-indulgence, “The Human Use...” introduces affect, connectedness, belonging and being human to the discussion concerning the motivations behind, and social consequences of, the selfie. Through this reading, it emerges that the selfie, by indelibly weaving itself into an emerging visual and visceral dialect, has already, and irrevocably, influenced the photographic self-portrait.
Addressing not only the artefact or surface of the image, but also the activity, production and cultural motivation of the selfie, this research examines its privileged position inside a rapidly expanding and evolving social media ecology. With the contemporary social urge to participate, to dialogue, and to share, the selfie becomes yet another human use of the human face.