When I used to think about self-images I thought about a picture of myself. Just an ordinary portrait of me posing. Now, I see self-image as using your creativity to create an image that you can either relate to or that shows more than one perspectives because it all depends on who is looking at the image. In this generation, every image is posted on social media and are depicted in many ways we never stop and think as to why that person post the picture. Maybe they had a reason behind it, a story.  Andy Warhol's pictures inspired me because it was fun and creative. His work gave picture life and excitement. When I created the picture below I wanted to make it something fun and in a sense funny.

Inspired by Andy Warhol

Social media has taken over the way many people especially young people portray someone’s picture. They might say someone is trying to get attention or even just taking pointless pictures, but at the end the person that posted that picture has a reason behind their picture or maybe even that they just simply liked how they looked in the picture. We try to represent ourselves in pictures in any way possible. Whether it is just us at the movies, or at the mall, or even at a party. We want to show people what we are doing at the moment to show a little part of who we are. In “Art of Self Invention” Joanna Finkelstein says, “an individual’s reputation and opportunities for advancement are affected by their delivery of good public performance.” She is saying that a person’s life is represented by the quality of how they do things and how they present themselves and attract to others. Self- promotion is a big part of this because one must show others how they want to be seen, although they might not always be seen in the way they would like to, most people will portray them how the individual wants to be portrayed.

Social media teaches us to want to post everything we are doing so other can think we are “cool” or “pretty”. Some people think that you must have social media to be able to connect with others and see what is going on in the world. Many don’t remember how to do things the old fashion way, going outside and meeting people. Susan Sontag once said, “a photograph passes for incontrovertible proof that a thing happened.” Everything we post on social media is a proof that the event happened. Having to prove to other that we aren’t lying about what we did. It is sad that many people in our generation cannot do something fun or exciting without having to show other they are actually there.

One may think that we don’t learn about culture or identity through a picture, but we do. When analyzing an image whether of someone or not, if you really look deep into the image and try to understand what is happening in the picture many things can pop-out and speak for themselves.

An image can show the artist identity and their story and even the culture of which they are from. In many images, we try to hide as many things possible, especially some women. Some women that aren’t comfortable with themselves and who they are post pictures that show the least of who they are. If we created and control the images of ourselves that we shared, which we do we would be showing others how we feel by hiding who we really are. We worry about being judged and how people think of us, but why should we care how others think of us? Many people Photoshop their images because they aren’t comfortable with who they are and its sad that they are letting others tear them apart by what they don’t like. Creating our own images gives us the opportunity to be able to express how we really feel and be happy with ourselves. In “Ways of Seeing,” John Berger said, “the mirror was often used as a symbol of the vanity of woman the moralizing, however was mostly hypocritical” (Berger 51). Women are very hypocritical on themselves because of this image of having to be skinny or these models that are posted on magazines and social media, it is how others want us to look, so we do everything we can to try to fit in to social standards or how society wants us to look and feel. Self-image to society is based off of how they want us to look by only showing us these skinny models, or what we should wear and how we should act. All these things are reasons why some people aren’t comfortable with themselves and are always trying to change who they are and what they look like. Quite honestly, I think it is sad that society wants to tell you who to be in order to be considered a social norm. Cindy Sherman definitely made that change of going outside of the social norms with her pictures. She made many statements by showing others that you can do anything you want no matter how you are looked at after. Sherman had many sexy photos and clown photos, and ultimately she did a little everything. Which is why she was so free to thinking outside the box and taking all these different amazing pictures. 

Inspired by Cindy Sherman

Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. London, England: British Broadcasting Corporation, 1973. Print

Finkelstein, Joanne. The Art of Self Invention: Image and Identity in Popular Visual Culture.

Susan Sontag