Brand Deals
Category: Final Major Project
Creepy Messages
Instagram Posts
Where I started vs Where I am now.
https://www.instagram.com/_publishednarcissist_/
From the very start of the FMP- I knew that I wanted to go back to questioning identity in my photographic practice. I first began with the idea of creating a life-sized human body created from hundreds of images of various people which I shot. The first artists which were suggested to me were Julie Cockburn and Maurizio Anzeri. They both used wool to add textures, patterns and colours into their portraits and, at first, seemed to be a great idea which I wanted to pursue. Then I began to think about the ‘how’- the material would be so incredibly heavy and I would be unable to suspend it in any way as there would be the fear of the material ripping or becoming damaged. This is when I began to experiment with how I could address identity in various ways- yet still using a new form of portraits.
I then began to think about using inspiration from my own creative-critical dissertation- I did extensive research into how narcissism is prevalent in the 21st century and social media.
During my tutorial with Ellen, we discussed how I could use my own writing to create a physical photo-documentary of her own thoughts of herself. She sees herself as a proud young woman who believes that she deserves a lot from life, however, people will see her as a straight-cut narcissist.
Also, I have addressed the negative connotations of social media. By doing this- I can show that the life of a narcissist isn’t always being seen as ‘perfect’; it’s the anxiety of not being seen as ‘perfect’ enough.
These are just a few screen shots from my new instagram account: _publishednarcissist_ (in the beginning, it was called _perfectionpersonified_ but I felt as though Ellen’s use of the term published narcissism in one of my feed back tutorials sounded better.
After a presentation in front of my class- I got some feedback into artists which have used social media in their own projects for some inspiration as to what level I could take this persona to.
The first suggestion was Amalia Ulman- a multidisciplinary artist based in LA. Her project: titled- Excellences and Perfections- was installed within the Tate Modern’s exhibition: Performing for the Camera. Ulman’s work consisted of creating a false persona- she pretended to have breast augmentation and posted carefully selected and frame images to sell her false lifestyle. This has inspired me to look back through my archive of photographs and dig up some old ones- selling a story of self love and narcissism.
My character: Emily, loves to post pictures of herself and read all of the comments on her feed; craving the attention and lives to watch her follower count rise and rise with every passing day. As of 8/5/2019- she has 118 followers, two days ago she had 79.
The next instagram blogger that I was shown was @lilmiquela. The interesting part of this blog, is that the character being shown in the images- isn’t human. Lil Miquela is a self confessed robot living in LA who is a singer and a model. The artist takes photographs of themselves and digitises them- portraying themselves to be something that they physically cannot be. However, her 1.5 millions followers all love her feed and comment on her released music: she has been compared to other electronically digitised artists such as the Gorillaz and Hatsune Miku. This blog has created such an in-depth story line that is so intriguing and captivating- that I knew I wanted to attempt to do something similar on a smaller scale.
With the previous bloggers- they interacted with their audience at such a high velocity that every comment was reacted to and it seemed as though most questions got answered- so this is what I have done too. I have received messages from brands asking me to represent their jewellery and clothes. I’ve even been asked to become involved in a one to one shoot on a mystery location shoot. All of the brands and photographers which have contacted me have mostly been pleasant; this is where it gets dark.
Emily loves to post pictures of her body- she knows that she is gorgeous and loves to flaunt off her curves and promote a healthy relationship with your body (even if she doesn’t have one); the blog has received plenty of people asking her to take nude self-portraits so they can use them to pleasure themselves. The blog has been sent ‘dick-pics’ on multiple occasions that I (as Emily) have managed to brush off and continue talking to the person. Whenever she gets complimented, I always replied in a way that reminds the person that she knows that she is beautiful- she just wants to show off her body which she has worked hard for.
Emily is a model- she loves animals and is obsessed with makeup. I knew that when I created this blog- I could use these terms to gain an advantage. Modelling clothes and jewellery, animal portraits and makeup tutorials are all incredibly popular on this platform; all of the hashtags that I include with every post help to promote my blog as well: #aspiringmodel #animallover #makeuplook #makeupartist. If I post an image of makeup, I will always tag the brand of makeup which has been shown. This will encourage people who follow the brand of makeup to check out my blog.
I have spent hours scrolling through Emily’s suggested follow blogs and built her character around that. She started off being a young woman who just craved validation and attention- now she is a aspiring model who absolutely adores her animals to pieces and takes her followers on the journey of her life: from taking photographs of the studios that she has been in to photographs of her full english breakfast.
With the overall project I wish to describe it as such:
_publishednarcissism_ is a look into how traits of narcissism can be portrayed and addressed online- delving deeply into how we wish to show ourselves online through images and text. This project is a piece which proves how easy it is to create a false persona on Instagram specifically; using my own images I have created a character who craves attention and needs to feel accepted as popular, beautiful and lusted after.
People, from all over the world, have accepted my persona and continued to watch her grow. But it hasn’t been completely fun.
It sometimes is hard to disassociate her character from myself- which is difficult because we share the same face. This project has made boyfriend and I, uncomfortable on more than one occasion, but I think this proves just how easy it is to take someones face, change their name and create a whole new identity for them.
The quotes which have primarily shaped my project into what it is today are as follows (they have all been selected from my own creative-critical dissertation):
- I was reading through all of the comments when his username popped up on my notifications: ‘Gosh you’re gorgeous, I’d love to call you mine’ with lots of love heart emoji’s on the end. I let out a breathless giggle. Was I really attractive enough to be called gorgeous?
- I know I’m gorgeous; all of my friends and family know this. My body is stunning- my body comprises of strong muscle and smooth skin, years of dancing on stage and body treatments at the spa (as paid for by my mother) has left me, basically a goddess.
- No one could be completely perfect…
- Validation is a must. It is. I crave it. To be lusted after, envied and wanted is all I want in life.
- I know I deserve a perfect life- I have been told I do!
- It’s 4 am now. I should probably sleep; my eyelashes are resting upon my full cheeks and my breathing has slowed down considerably. The heart palpitations have subsided. I’ve turned my phone off- it’s been far too long since I’ve done that.
I am incredibly impressed, but also concerned, with how many people assume that my character is real- I’ve been contacted about everything from whether or not I charge for nude photographs and how much it would cost to promote peoples skin care brands.
Please feel free to have a look at my instagram and see how I created Emily:
Holly Buck- Reflective Journal 