Self Representation in Modern “Art”

Today “artsy” is synonymous with Instagram photos and DIY crafts from Pinterest. Everyone is a photographer, an editor, a creator. For many people, our lives on Instagram and our lives in the real world don’t quite match up. Thanks to the world of filters and editing tools, it doesn’t take much work to enhance, so to speak, your life. This is amazing in so many ways, but it also teaches people to devalue the grit or even dullness of their own lives. Sitting on the couch watching a movie or spending quality time with your family suddenly becomes less valuable if it is not captured in photo form and social media worthy. Though your ratty sweatpants may be the most pleasing outfit, they’ll never make it onto your Instagram page. In this way, the virtual idealization of reality, once found only in television, movies, and video games, are now merging with your actual life. Instead of creating a Sims character, you are creating a self character, constantly trying to chisel a glamorized public self on the pretense of giving a glimpse into your private world. Beacause of this it’s a lot more difficult to find spaces where you can let your guard down, leave the makeup off when going over to your friend’s, for fear of the inevitable snapshots that will be taken. Posed artsy “candids” shower the pages of Instagram though the subject presumably asked someone to take them.

This changing idea of self representation is messy. In many ways, it reflects the history of art, especially photography, where the piece can appear to be a happenstance capturing of a moment in time, when really it is the product of much staging and editing (like the Jeff Wall photograph above). On the other hand, it interferes with our sense of ourselves by shaping it around public reception. Only 10 likes on Instagram seems to tell you that that particular event isn’t worthy of public sharing, and thus is it really worthy of anything? Similarly, travel seems to be bogged down by excessive photography, as if we are so fearful of losing the moment or that it will not be recognized as worthy unless it ends up on Facebook, that we end up experiencing the entire thing through the lens of the camera. Art is supposed to influence and shape the self, but the individual is not meant to shape his or herself into a work of art. Imperfection is beauty and many of the beauties of life are those outside of the frame.