After reading the following article, a lot of ideas and thoughts sparkled in my mind: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00245/full
A self portrait or a selfie, both include the concept of "self". They are both used to self-depict the author, being a painter trying to depict themselves artistically or an Instagram model trying to take a picture of themselves to post online. I have never drawn any type of self portrait, but I do take a moderate amount of selfies. A lot of people have a whole process to taking a selfie: worrying about the clothing or makeup, the setting of the picture, the angles, the facial expressions - and then they go on to take dozens of pictures to then pick only one of them as the final result.
For me, selfies are a way of showing your true self doing something in the moment. That is why whenever I take a selfie, I only take one picture or two, and take them whenever I feel like taking one, whether I am doing something exciting or just relaxing at home. This way, I show real emotion in spontaneous parts of my day to day life. However, if you look up selfie on Google, the web is filled with tutorials and videos trying to explain how to take a good selfie. It is impressing to me how thanks to technology, we can all have self portraits instead of having to be art connoisseurs to have one.
A selfie or self-portrait is not just about taking a picture of yourself, as the reading says: "They reveal something about the creator in particular, but also something about humans in general.". There is so much truth in this statement. They are complex information being communicated as a compact format.
It can show their personalities, mood, their outward appearance, their current situation, feelings, cognition, and way more. The only difference between a selfie and a self-portrait is that the selfie shows reality and truth (unless is digitally altered), while the self-portrait can be altered by each artists. We can see this in every Frida Kahlo self-portrait, where she refused to change her facial features to make herself look better, but instead heavily exaggerated them making these features more notorious. While my selfie to the right was taken on the spot, showing who I am and how I look with no altering reality. Not only this, but the items found in said depiction can also describe a lot about their authors. Frida often shows herself around nature, with animals around her and flowers on her head. Other than this, the setting of each portrait can change the meaning of the whole image. It can not only add emotion and mood to the portrait, but it can add a story about what is happening, explaining the backstory or the present. This ends up adding depth to the subject and the portrait.
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