Dollhaus Selfies
I make fake selfies. The background in the images below represents various rooms inside a dollhouse, which are in fact a tad small even for Barbie to inhabit. Utilizing Photoshop I have inserted myself into the foreground to create a false reality of my existence. The project aims to exaggerate and parody the artificiality, contrived, and performative aspects involved in the process of taking, muploading, and uploading selfies. Although they are sometimes labeled otherwise, selfies are rarely #candid or #natural. Perhaps more accurate hashtags might include: #thebestoneof50photosjustookofmyself, #finallyfiguredoutmymostflatteringangle, #pleasenotethecasualdesignerlabelsinthemargins, #freepornography, #etc. Selfies serve as the ultimate visualization of the social media users intended online identity. The collapse of the photographer and subject allows complete autonomy and self-idealization. The dollhouse setting serves to relate the process of selfies to adult make-believe. If Freud were a contemporary scholar he might theorize that selfies reveal more about the subconscious desires of an individual than an actual depiction of their life. Selfies show exactly what and how the subject wants to be viewed, a performance for a cyber audience. Dollhaus Selfies is about the fantasy and self-delusion reinforced in the growing selfie fetish.