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Self-Portrait


­­­­The chapter has many terms similar and confusing terms, like selfie, self-portrait, self-revelation, self-examination, performance... To my understanding, a selfie is a photo toke by someone mainly to be posted on the Internet, and self-portrait is a more sophisticated photo or project that the image of the subject can multiple meanings and different from the self. Take Francesca Woodman’s Self-Deceit#1 for example, some critics interpret it as an image that unveils the plain a woman received in her childhood, other critics interpret it as a sort of narcissism expression, and some says it is a metaphor for something else. An image with a woman does not necessarily have a relation with the woman herself, just like a photo without a person can also involve self-expression. But there must be, a certain extent of photographer' self in Self-Deceit#1.

 

Today’s use of internet blurs the boundary between selfie and self-portrait even more. The book talks about Amalia Ulman’s art project on Instagram. This project challenges the “authenticity” of photos shown on internet. The photos are real; however, the concept is fake. These photos constructed a fake image about oneself and audiences were fooled to believe that everything revealed from the images is herself.


 

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