Selfie

A look into how new social media platforms transform the history of photography and self-portraiture.

The practice of self-portraiture, which was exclusive to artists in the past, is now a contemporary activity, taking place every day due to the availability of technology. Most people have a phone-camera in their pockets, making photography, by far, the most used medium for image creation. Social media on the internet has made the sharing of these images fast and easy, giving people the opportunity to create a public profile which shows them in the way they want to be seen. This is also not new: oil painters during the Renaissance, Classical, and Modern times used self-portraits to show themselves the way they wanted to be seen. However, the Snapchat application, the focus of my paper, provides a paradigm shift for this practice of self-portraiture due to its transient quality: while most Renaissance painters and Facebook users carefully edit in and out the qualities they want to show the public, Snapchat users create more spontaneous and casual portraits of themselves simply because these images or self-portrait videos only exist for a maximum of X seconds. In order to frame this change, it is necessary to understand the original and modern established uses of self-portraiture. Snapchat was first introduced to the public in July 2011, so its concept is still relatively new and therefore allows for new possible uses as an art tool. In the same way YouTube became the outlet for many fine art video artists, Snapchat could prove to be a new medium for both photographers and video artists.

Self-portraiture

An early example of this practice is Nicolas Poussin’s self-portrait painting from 1650. Currently displayed at the Louvre in Paris, this painting is Poussin’s most popular image depicting his physical appearance. He painted this at the request of his patron Chantelou, who wanted to keep a portrait of his protégé but could not acquire one because the artist had not recorded himself since his early days as a painter, and he never did again after this one. The reason this self-portrait became so popular was not the lack of other reproductions of it, but the fact that he created a sort of “monument to himself” by including his art, his studio, and an inscription similar to those found on the stone base of sculpture monuments. Poussin included a section of one of his history paintings to show his classical style, and his association with the Royal French Academy and the highest genre in painting at the time.

When it comes to his physical appearance in the painting, Poussin presents himself as an intellectual and theoretician of art, and he includes the inscription not in French but in Latin, which was the language of scholars. His facial expression follows the Greek standard of passionless restraint and represents dignity. This is furthermore reinforced by the pyramid composition and the combination of verticals and horizontal lines that makes the figure stable. This helps create the idea of a permanent, timeless figure that works as a symbol of the classical style and what was taught at the Academy.

John Caplans, Self-portrait (Back with arms above), 1984. **Tate Museum.**

Photography

As this paper is about Snapchat, the phone application for photographs and videos, the focus will naturally be on the medium of photography. Popularly believed to be the most objective of mediums, photography has been known to be fairly easy to manipulate and, even though it can prove an object was in front of the camera, it cannot objectively describe its nature. In her book Self/Image, Amelia Jones is quick to point out that Hyppolyte Bayard unmasked the possibility of manipulation that photography allowed in his photograph “Self Portrait as a Drowned Man” from 1840. However, many photographers continued to manipulate negatives and managed to trick the general public into believing what the final prints showed. For example, in 1869, studio photographer William H. Mumler was charged with fraud for the production and sale of portrait photographs that included “spirits” of the customers’ deceased relatives. This was most likely a use of a double exposure in the dark room but the artist never admitted to it and continued to attempt a career as “spirit photographer”.

As the camera did not require the artist to manually produce a self-image, it became a quick, effective tool to record the physical appearance of many artists. Art historians can even use those photographs now to compare them to self-portraits done in other media such as painting and sculpture, and compare them to “how the artist really looked”. However, some artists used photography to develop extended studies of their physical features and created entire series challenging the limits of photography’s ability to truthfully describe them. One of the main artists to have recorded his body was John Coplans. His series gathers black and white pictures from 1984 to 1997 that abstract his own body and emphasize form and texture, rather than reflect the artist’s personality or essence of the time. Unlike what we see in other self-portrait photographs, Coplans did not look to romanticize his figure or bring out his personality, but he was also not producing generic nudes. His work and its title encourage the viewer to take the information in these images as his self-portrait. Therefore, for Coplans, his physical features can, alone, stand as a self-portrait. This does not seem to be enough information when compared to the kind of portrait made by Poussin, but as Coplans knew the camera was not objective, he created work that limited the information and enhanced it at the same time. On the other hand, Poussin’s work might not, in Coplans’ view, provide enough information, since these two artists present different approaches. While Poussin might have provided more information about his philosophy, education, and overall political ideology, he does not allow the public to know him in the physical way Coplans does.

John Caplans, Self-portrait (Hands Spread on Knees), 1985. **Tate Museum.**

Social Media

By the end of the twentieth, and beginning of the twenty-first century, the introduction and availability of digital, pocket-size cameras grew. This gave way to the new generation of teenagers and young adults that began to record itself, and make these records public on the internet on sites like blogs and, later, MySpace and Facebook. On these sites, users created a public profile on which they included information about themselves, including a self-portrait, and could later post more or change it at will. As part of this generation, I must admit having self-portrait photographs since 2005 (the year my mother bought our first digital camera), and I have continued to record the physical changes my body went through since then. Unlike Coplans, I never published any of these photographs because they were not part of my public profile. I would normally produce 50 photographs and choose to make public only one of them. Many of my peers presented a similar use of their parents’ digital cameras and would produce many self-portraits until achieving one that would show them in a certain way.

With the development of Facebook and the introduction of smartphones with a higher quality camera, users could create self-portraits in a matter of seconds. This practice became even more popular with the development of Twitter and Instagram (the latter now owned by Facebook). Unlike any other social media application, Instagram only allows users to share photographs, and it has recently incorporated 15-second videos. These two supported media can be accompanied by captions, though they are not required to. This application was a significant facilitator in the growth of daily self-portraits, now known as “selfies”. According to the Oxford Dictionary, the term “selfie” was first used around 2003. Ten years later, its use grew exponentially and Oxford Dictionary chose it as “Word of the Year” in 2013.

Facebook and Instagram: Everyone is a curator.

As my first case study, I decided to use the images made public by Guillermo Ortas, both on Facebook and Instagram.

The image on the left was taken from his Facebook profile and served as a “profile picture”, which means that it was the first photograph anyone visiting his profile would see. This photograph has more in common with Poussin’s self-portrait painting than similarities to Coplans’ work: Guillermo included in this image various pieces of information that together give away part of his personality and interests. For example, in this image, he is posing with three trophies that belong to the NBA Miami Heat team, which represent the three championships the team won; this strongly suggests Guillermo is a Miami Heat sympathizer. Moreover, Guillermo is wearing a shirt with Greek letters that represent and associate him with his fraternity, Theta Chi. These two details alone place him in the context of a college student involved with a fraternity. Furthermore, the amount of championships and NBA players seen in posters behind him indicate the time in history when this picture was taken: Ray Allen, drafted in 1996, on the left and LeBron James, drafted in 2003, on the right, combined with the year in which these two players won a championship, place Guillermo sometime after the end of the 2013 NBA Finals.

When it comes to his physical appearance, Guillermo presents his body in a very expressive way: his arms wide open in celebration and Christ-like worshiping of the trophies, and a smile on his face, most likely held for the photographer. Although this is not a self-portrait, it is a portrait of himself he orchestrated to include and exclude specific aspects.

The image on the right was taken from Guillermo’s Instagram account. This is not his chosen picture for his biography section on the application, but it is a self-portrait taken by him and posted on Instagram. This photograph is accompanied by a caption. As aforementioned, Instagram does not allow for any posts except photographs — and captions, so text is always important to the image. This image presents Guillermo and his friend well dressed and, according to the caption, studying in the library. This selfie does not provide a lot of information about their personalities but does focus on their physical appearance, another popular use of selfies.

This is where manipulation of the photograph and the limited, superficial information are highlighted, as they connect these images to the traditional self-portraiture practice in fine art photography or painting. In the same way Poussin chose to depict himself in specific clothing and Coplans decided to show himself without any type of clothing, Guillermo and his friend made the decision to show themselves in dress shirts. Moreover, the caption Instagram allows often serves the same purpose inscriptions do in paintings like Poussin’s, where his inscription identifies him and the time in history, presented in Latin to elevate his status to that of an academic. Similarly, in Guillermo’s case, this caption is used to identify the friend presented beside him in the photograph.

Even though these images are not considered art, the way in which they are conceived, and ultimately the way in which they shape the user’s public image, is the same. Facebook and Instagram are platforms where images are stored and available to the public or friends at all times unless removed by the owner. Therefore, Guillermo and other users are paying attention to the information they leave out there. The fact that I could collect these last two images is proof of the availability of them once they are released into the internet.

Snapchat

Another reason selfies became a popularly produced type of photograph is the introduction of Snapchat: it allows its users to share photos and videos with captions, with friends and phone contacts. However, there is a twist to this application, which is what has made it such a success (Facebook offered $3 billion to buy it, and when turned down, Google offered $4 billion but was also turned down by the Snapchat founder). The feature that is at the center of Snapchat is its time limit and immediate deletion of all material shared: users can share photos and videos for a limited time (up to 10 seconds), and all material is deleted after the time runs out. Moreover, Snapchat informs the person sending the image if the person receiving the image took a screenshot of it, which is the only way to store images seen on Snapchat.

As social media users know by now, material posted online remains available forever, which is why users are careful about what they share. This application became popular very quickly because users could send images without worrying about them being available to, for example, future potential employers or love interests. It also allowed users to share nude photographs without the risk of these being reposted later as pornography on other websites or platforms. Although users receiving nudes could store them, the original sender would at least be immediately notified. Nonetheless, selfies are still the most used type of “snap” shared among friends.

Guillermo also happens to use Snapchat on a daily basis and has allowed me to save some of the selfies he shares with his friends. These are screenshots that saved the images Guillermo sent me. He was immediately notified of said action by the application.

All three selfies include something very telling about his usage of Snapchat: the recurrent car setting. In addition, he seems to use this application to show his less serious side and present himself in a silly manner: making funny faces or being frustrated about the wait time at a drive-thru service. Unlike the previous photographs Guillermo posted online, these seflies do not look to idealize his appearance or show his professionalism. Rather, they emphasize his humor and seek to entertain the receiver.

Snapchat transformed years of self-portraiture tradition by using it as a conversational element. Seflies are no longer meant to capture the user’s personality or essence, but are meant to convey emotions and moods through facial expressions that are easily shown in pictures. The fact that the Snapchat CEO did not accept either billionaire offer to sell his application supports the point I am trying to make about Snapchat: it is not just “the next big thing”. At the same time, there is no way to know if the application will succeed or slowly fade away until it happens. Research has shown wide-ranging opinions within the same demographic. While one 18-year-old states that even if there were a new big technological development, it would not replace Snapchat because it is simple and effective, another questionee of the same age stated: “You can only take so many selfies”. With all possibilities in mind, it is important to remember that Snapchat may have broken the traditional use of selfies, by creating an application that works just like text messages, and has therefore deconstructed the purpose of self-portraits.

In addition, Snapchat, by introducing video, incorporated the self-portrait to the already established concept of the voice memo. Voice memos allow users to record a spoken message and send it as a sound file. However, Snapchat provides the opportunity to send videos through their efficient platform which has proven to work faster and better than most wireless phone companies. This allows users to send multi-media messages carrying the voice memos. Unlike fine art video artists producing video self-portraits, such as Cuban artist Marta Maria Perez Bravo (left), or Miami-based artist Jillian Mayer (center), these self-portrait videos sent through Snapchat (right) work as an ephemeral message which works in the same way a voice memo or voicemail message would, with the inclusion of the self-portrait.

**Marta María Pérez Bravo** (Left), **Jillian Mayer** (center), Anonymous Snapchat user (right).

Ever since the wet plate process in photography, pictures were seen as an object that was physically present and was permanent. The introduction of digital photography and video put the medium under question because there is no object unless it is printed or, in the case of video art, stored in a disk. Snapchat took this lack of medium specificity concept even further by allowing the creation of photographs that cannot be printed (unless the photograph is saved) so the purpose of these images is not to produce a commodity or permanent object with stored information, but rather to entertain peers for a maximum of ten seconds per snap. Snapchat has, then, created a new way to conceive self-portraits by completely changing the rules. While Facebook and Instagram, along with fine art self-portraiture practice, will continue to work with the traditional method of creation, snaps have opened the way to something brand new in for it.

Although snaps are not commonly considered art, the material shared could be seen as ephemeral and experiential art. These images, despite not being given the same careful consideration art pieces receive, are just as powerful in shaping the public opinion of Snapchat users. This means that users are constantly absorbing visual information about the sender in an unconscious way, and therefore not pausing to consider how truthful or significant the information is. Moreover, the way Snapchat works creates a certain anxiety for the receivers by making the data available for a limited period of time and therefore controlling the kind of experience they have. This anxiety causes faster interaction and a greater demand for the application but does not, however, generate a greater interest in the photograph or video. The fact that these snaps exist for a brief moment reduces the importance given to the information, in comparison to the material the same users may share on other social media like Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube, where a post is kept available unless removed by its creator. So, while this anxiety might help to grow the number of users and information that is shared, its arrangement can be seen as the opposite of a thoughtful examination of works of art in a museum or art gallery set up. This further reinforces the idea that Snapchat has turned two widely used fine art media away from the art world and into a new social media language, accessible only through their product (the smart-phone application) and understood, for the most part, by a younger demographic that communicates through and perceives visual content in a new, ever changing way.

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This is a summary of my undergraduate thesis. Submitted in March 2014 at Florida International University.