Aging in the Age of the Selfie #TheSelfieProject

 

Looking at the lines on my face

through the iPhone lens

Drawn deeper, longer.

The curls on my head

lie heavy, grey.

Taking up the screen.

They move on their own now.

The camera's filter can't seem to catch a

glimpse of daddy's and mommy's face

in mine.

I am my own woman now.

My eyes appear

calm and dark.

They smile on their own.

I remember what Audre Lorde wrote in 'Change of Season'

She asks:

"Am I to be cursed forever with becoming somebody else on my way to myself?"

She continues,

"I have paid dearly in time for love I hoarded

unseen

summer goes into my words

and comes out reason."

I am trying to capture a sense of time in this selfie.

Still

unsure

where to locate change

on a digital

and aging face.

#TheSelfieProject

My Selfie Project on Instagram

The Selfie Project is a social media experiment I started on Instagram in order to communicate out of a need to (be) love(d). The project's mission is inspired by the Abbot, a character in Carl Sagan's novel Contact.

The Abbot asks, "But why do we communicate? [...] Why do we wish to exchange information?" The Abbot concludes, "I believe that we communicate out of love or compassion."

The selfie (a picture taken of yourself with the intent to upload to social media) has become a cultural phenomenon and social practice that reflects a desire to author ourselves while living and being in an era of complicated and intrusive privacy and surveillance practices, all while the body and self image are perpetually scrutinized.

Does narcissism play a role? Perhaps. But that's not my focus here.

Instead, I understand that through the selfie we seek to reach out to others, confront our mortality through digital reflections, and expose pieces of who we believe we are through the mobile self portrait. The selfie becomes a communicative means through which we articulate identity, emotions, and desire. And yes, the selfie, as practice, can be an exercise of self-deprecation.

With the Selfie Project,  I attempt to show that there is more to the selfie than the self. Accompanied by poetry, song lyrics and thoughts, there's you.

This is my love story.

Request to follow me on Instagram @Friday025

#TheSelfieProject