College Writing
09/23/18
Self-Portrait and Selfie
Modern publications, as well as scholarly journals, have brought out a matter of concern
regarding the relationship between a selfie and high art. Scholarly writings by Phelan and some
popular publications such as the New Yorker bring out the idea of a photographic exercise of
bringing out a comparison between a selfie and high art. By definition, a selfie can be regarded
as a photograph that an individual captures oneself. The photograph can be captured by use of a
Smartphone or a webcam. On the other side, a self-portrait or a high art can be termed as a
portrait produced by artists on themselves. One of the most significant self-portrait
photographers is Francesca Woodman who was the first youngest American photographer.
Woodman was commonly known of her most captivating white and black pictures of the 20th
century which mostly featured female models or her. Currently, the world is living at an age
characterized by addictive self-portraiture which can be regarded as the “age of the selfie,” this
draws a great desire to take a look at the changing genre of self-portraiture carefully. The paper
discusses the relationship between a selfie and high art and carefully analyses the changing genre
of self-portraiture.
Selfie and self-portrait are used by individuals to document their lives so that they can
leave a trace behind for others to discover. Phelan states that “art like all things human,
succumbs to death.” Similarly an article by Jene Wortham, My selfie, myself outlines that both
selfie and self-portrait are brought together by timeless delight an ability of an individual to
document his life and leave a trace behind to be discovered by others (Wortham). This shows
similarities between the two genres in the action where they are used to document the life of an
individual for the sake of the future. The use of a selfie in artistic activities has been aided by
advancement in technology where an individual can art his picture through the use of Google art.
With increased technological advancements as well as social media there has been a significant
change between the two genres, selfie, and self-portrait where the current world has gained full
usage of selfie in the documentation of an individual’s life. According to Phelan, artistic
activities can be regarded to as the rehearsal for death since they involve a photograph of an
