Are Selfies a Form of Art?

Author: Selene C.

Selfies have always been seen as the epitome of narcissism and self absorption. Vacuous shallow people with a blank expression whose only purpose is to look pretty and sexy for the audience and to attract as many likes as possible, highlighting that they represent the current society standard of beauty.

Let’s forget about what I just described above. Who are we to call someone selfish, shallow or empty? What if selfies represent more than what we can actually see?

We could apply what Luigi Pirandello, a famous Sicilian poet, said in his masterpiece ‘One, No One and One Hundred Thousand’:

“The idea that others saw in me one that was not the I whom I knew, one whom they alone could know, as they looked at me from without, with eyes that were not my own, eyes that conferred upon me an aspect destined to remain always foreign to me, although it was one that was in me, one that was my own to them”.

Our face is just a mask. We are actors wearing different ones depending on the situation we are in. Selfies are not mere photos of ourselves. They might represent our love for attention, the attempt to stand out from the crowd, it’s a way to leave our comfort zone or need for social connections.

This makes me wonder…

What if selfies are a form of art?

The Oxford dictionary defines art “the use of the imagination to express ideas or feelings”. Art is the expression of ourselves and what is more expressive than our faces?!

Our eyes, mouth and eyebrows can make us look sexy, scared, surprised, happy or grumpy.

The Saatchi Gallery set up an exhibition called “From Selfies to Self-Expression” presenting the most creative and original selfies of artists and photographers. In addition, in 2015, Kim Kardashian published “Selfish” a 445-page book full of selfies and captions showing her physical evolution. This book could surprisingly be considered a work of art and be seen as an attempt to show that Kim Kardashian is a real person with passions and memories and not only the queen of social media.

I know what you are thinking, my dear reader.

Not all selfies are artistic. Yet, it is true.

Selfies can be a form of art; it’s another way for artists to express themselves.

Originally published at https://www.picturerating.com.