From Self to #Selfie: An Introduction

“From Self to #Selfie: An Introduction” reflects upon a 2017 exhibition curated by Rudy Lemcke, featuring nine video projects by LGBTQ artists Kia LaBeija, Awilda Rodriguez Lora, Cassils, M. Lamar, A.L. Steiner, boychild, Tina Takemoto, Evan Ifekoya, and E.G. Crichton. It considers their distinctive ways of presenting queer subjectivity through self-portraiture in new media. The essay examines how the exhibition rethinks the question of subjectivity and provides insights into new methods of expression, production, and distribution made available by new media that opens new ways of understanding its queerness. It focuses specifically on the use of experimental video as a time-based medium that reframes questions of identity as a dynamic unfolding of complex narratives held together by provisional queer, non-binary location, and meaning. The essay explores how the simultaneous projection of works on nine large screens creates a dynamic and immersive field of what the curator calls “selves in temporal flux.” This temporal field not only moves beyond the static nature of conventional self-portraiture, but also expands possibilities for creating complex networks of queer self-representations.