Open Access
From Self to #Selfie: An Introduction
© 2021 by the authors; CC BY licence
In Self-Representation in an Expanded Field,
, Ed.
Abstract
“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.

Published in:
Self-Representation in an Expanded Field
Published: May 2021